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West Valley details bilingual education strategies as long-term English-learner rate exceeds state average
Summary
Federal programs director Geralyn Aschbaugh presented district data showing 571 multilingual students, 226 long-term English learners and a 38% LTEL rate (higher than Washington's 32% average), and outlined coaching, GLAD training and teacher release days to support exits from program.
Geralyn Aschbaugh, the district's federal programs director, told the West Valley School Board on Jan. 13 that the district serves students who speak 32 home languages and currently provides transitional bilingual services to students representing nine of those languages.
"We actually have 32 languages represented," Aschbaugh said. She described the Transitional Bilingual Instructional Program as a state-funded supplemental program aligned with federal Title III and focused on providing meaningful access to grade-level content and English language development.
Aschbaugh reviewed outcome data from the district's program review and assessment routine. For the 2025-26 school year she cited 571 multilingual students, 226 long-term English learners (students who have been in the program five years or more), and 162 bilingual students served in special education. She said West Valley's long-term English-learner rate is 38 percent, compared with a 32 percent state average, and that last year the district had an 8 percent exit rate for students leaving the program after meeting proficiency criteria on the WIDA assessment.
To address those challenges, Aschbaugh and district instructional coaches described a package of teacher support strategies: release days for deep planning with instructional coaches, sheltered instruction (SIOP) frameworks, GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) trainings with research‑and‑theory and classroom-demo components, condensed demo days to reduce time out of the classroom, and ongoing instructional coaching targeted to multilingual learners. Rebecca Festa, the district's multilingual instructional coach, presented classroom-level strategies such as observation charts, narrative input charts, cooperative strip paragraphs and gallery walks to increase students' academic language and participation.
Board members asked about numeric goals and testing timelines. Aschbaugh said she did not set a single fixed target beyond steadily increasing exit rates, and she said annual WIDA testing was underway with an approximate eight-week testing window; results will be available in May. She emphasized that many of the strategies target early grades to boost exits before students become long-term English learners.
The board took no formal vote on program design at the meeting; presenters framed the discussion as a review of program outcomes and professional development investments and asked for continued support for coaching and implementation work.
