Quincy Public Schools highlights gains in multilingual outreach, advances language-access plan

Heather Wojcik and the district family liaison team presented Quincy Public Schools’ English Learner Program Improvement Plan, reporting measurable gains in family outreach and early steps on a district language access plan. Wojcik said the district’s English Learner Education Program serves 1,721 students and that 79 languages are represented across the system. After outlining last year’s six goals, she highlighted that the district exceeded its target to award the state Seal of Biliteracy: it planned to award 35 seals but instead reported 55 graduating seniors receiving the recognition in 15 languages, and 78 students over two years in 17 languages.

Wojcik credited site-based family liaisons for increasing participation on platforms used by multilingual families. She reported WeChat participation rose from about 700 to 786 parents in the Chinese-speaking community, and WhatsApp grew from 250 to 370 parents among Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking families. Those platforms, Wojcik said, reach families who do not check email frequently and help connect them to registration, school events and new-parent orientations.

The presentation described four virtual parent academies offered in Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish that surpassed attendance goals (each hosted more than 100 participants). Staff said the academies covered district translation tools, how to read report cards and how to participate in parent conferences, and that family liaisons collect feedback to plan future sessions.

District staff also presented two multi-year initiatives. Moshe Doan said Quincy is participating in a 16-month Language Access Planning Institute led by the UMass Amherst Translation Center, which began in January 2024 and concludes in June 2025; the district expects a complete draft language access plan at that time. Ray Liu described a goal to increase scheduled interpretation requests by 10% from a baseline of 741 requests recorded last year, with outreach actions including districtwide flyers, professional development on Nov. 5 and repeated communication to school principals and staff.

Committee members pressed presenters on recent assessment trends and program details. Several members noted declines in percent meeting or exceeding MCAS expectations for some former English learners and asked whether the state’s June 2024 exit guidance — which automatically exits students from EL status at certain ACCESS thresholds — affected those numbers. Wojcik confirmed that the new guidance changes exit procedures and that the district is monitoring whether statewide trends follow the decline shown in Quincy’s data. Members also asked how the Seal of Biliteracy aligns with EL programming; Wojcik said recipients include former ELs, current bilingual students and students in world-language courses.

The committee moved to accept the English Learner Program Improvement Plan; the record shows the committee approved the plan during the meeting. The district said it will continue monthly work with the UMass cohort, and that a full draft language access plan will be shared with the school committee in June 2025 for review.