Portland Public Schools begins external audit of ESOL, highlights ACCESS and reading gains for multilingual learners

Teresa Lee, director of secondary ESOL, summarized the legal and program framework for multilingual learners: “English language development is a civil right. Portland Public Schools, regards multilingualism as an asset. And we believe that we all are responsible for both the academic achievement and the English language development for our MLs.”

Lee and Carlos Gomez, director of elementary ESOL, told the committee the district is in the design phase of strategic initiative 2.6 and has contracted the Center for Applied Linguistics to conduct a program review of ESOL and Spanish immersion. Gomez described recent activity: a request-for-proposal process, a selection committee, a signed contract, completion of six school site visits (three elementary schools: Talbot, Reiche and Lyseth; two middle schools: Lyman Moore and King; and Portland High School), and in-progress virtual focus groups and a data-use agreement.

Presenters explained the primary measures the district uses under its LAU plan: ACCESS growth-score targets issued by the Maine Department of Education, the annual ACCESS proficiency exit threshold (a score of 4.5 is used for exit), representation in honors/AP and Chapter 104 screening, and year-to-year growth on Maine through-year reading assessments. On the latter, presenters said multilingual readers improved by 4.34% from 2023 to 2025, narrowing the gap with non-multilingual peers.

Gomez described timing and limits of ACCESS growth measures: ACCESS is administered in January–February; statewide growth targets are typically shared in the late fall, meaning there is a lag between test administration and receipt of state target determinations. District staff said they have set a working target of roughly 2% annual ACCESS growth while the state-computed growth determinations are finalized.

District staff highlighted ongoing supports during the design phase: SIOP-based scaffolding for core curriculum, Elevation Strategies training for new teachers, ongoing PL/PD courses in multilingual foundations, staff language-learning opportunities, and an HR-led cohort to increase teacher endorsements for multilingual instruction. The presenters said the Center for Applied Linguistics’ recommendations will further guide implementation choices — including possible expansion of co-teaching, ESOL coaching, dual-language models or adjustments to Spanish immersion — after the audit’s findings are released.

Board members asked clarifying questions about ACCESS scoring (reading/writing combined weigh 70% of the composite; listening/speaking 30%) and about how Chapter 104 identification is handled; presenters described using accelerated English growth and content-area evidence (including Maine through-year results) as part of screening considerations.

Presenters said they will return with the external review’s recommendations and that existing PD and curricular scaffolds will continue while the district moves from design into implementation.