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Division reports ACCESS proficiency gains in elementary but notes gaps, Afghan SAS grant support ends this year
Summary
Charlottesville City Schools told the school board on Nov. 6 that elementary English learners met the states ACCESS growth expectations, but middle and high school ELs lag behind; staff highlighted temporary SAS grant supports for Afghan students and higher chronic absenteeism among ELs.
Charlottesville City Schools officials updated the board on Nov. 6 on services for multilingual learners, reporting division-level enrollment shifts, ACCESS language-proficiency results and temporary grant-supported programming for recently arrived Afghan students.
"This year is the first year we have to meet our standard of quality related to our students' language proficiency level," English learner director Dr. Vautz told the board, explaining that ACCESS growth now factors into state accountability. Divisionwide, the elementary band exceeded the VDEs growth expectation (57% at the elementary level), but the middle school (38%) and high school (43%) fell short of the state target, she said.
Dr. Vautz said 214 English learners enrolled through the welcome center last year and 145 exited the program; about 721 ELs remain in the division. She attributed part of the enrollment change to a pause in federal refugee resettlement that reduced arrivals. She also said that the division has 28 English learner teachers and that staffing this year provides some capacity for growth.
The presentation included details about the Special Admissions Services (SAS) federal grant for Afghan students. Dr. Vautz said the grant funded four bilingual instructional assistants and an Afghan family liaison who speak Pashto and Dari; the SAS staff have supported academic programming, family engagement and summer experiences. The grant-funded positions and services will end when the current award period closes at the end of the school year.
Board members questioned absenteeism and wraparound supports. Dr. Vautz said chronic absenteeism for ELs runs higher than the division average (division chronic absenteeism roughly 21.4% vs. ELs about 30%) and said the division is using bilingual staff, partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and school-level engagement strategies to address barriers. She said older students who are over 18 and working pose additional challenges for secondary-level outreach.
Board members urged continued connection with city partners and after-school activities (for example, cricket and other community sports) as strategies to boost engagement for EL students. Dr. Vautz said district staff are exploring partnership and transportation opportunities and will continue to track ACCESS growth and staffing for the next year.
