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District presents ACCESS results for multilingual learners; staff cite student gains and supports
Summary
District staff reported 46 students took the ACCESS for ELL last year, with roughly 15% at lowest proficiency and 35% each at levels 2 and 3; staff said 16 students exited ESL services in 2024–25 and the district will continue tutoring and translation supports.
An unidentified district ESL presenter told the Freehold Township School District board that 46 multilingual learners took the WIDA ACCESS for ELL last year and that the district is seeing movement across proficiency levels.
The presenter said about 15% of those students scored at the lowest proficiency level, roughly 35% at level 2 and 35% at level 3, and that students who achieve a score of 4.5 are no longer counted as needing ESL services. "We had 16 students — representing almost 35% of our total ESL population — exit our ESL services during the 2024–25 school year," the presenter said, adding that about half of those students spent only one year in the program.
The presentation highlighted supports the district is using to accelerate learning and communicate with families: I Ready assessments available in Spanish, Smore newsletters translated into multiple languages, Pocketalk devices to facilitate classroom communication and a planned trial of translation pens. The presenter also said the district used remaining high‑impact tutoring grant funds to provide four weeks of intensive tutoring for multilingual students and reported a $100,000 state allocation to continue high‑impact tutoring work.
Board members asked about family engagement events; the presenter confirmed that the district plans to continue family literacy and celebration nights. Board President (unnamed in the transcript) praised ESL staff for the results and specifically congratulated Mrs. Rosen, who was present.
The presentation noted a reporting limitation: when grade‑level subgroup sizes fall below 10 students the district does not disaggregate or publish those small‑cell results to protect student privacy. The presenter said the district will post the slide deck with student data on the district website once the presenter populates the file with individual school data.
What happens next: district staff said they will continue professional development for ESL teachers, monitor ACCESS results across three years of post‑COVID data and maintain translation and tutoring supports for multilingual learners.
