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Board hears ACCESS for ELs results: multilingual student population grows and shows grade-level gains
Summary
At the Aug. 28 meeting the board received ACCESS for ELs results: 505 students tested (35 more than last year), grade-level gains at several elementary grades and noted transience in the multilingual population; staff said they track cohort progress and will report additional detail on students who "place out."
Mrs Chang, the district's ACCESS for ELs presenter, and Yen Morales, supervisor of ESL and World Language, told the board the district tested 505 multilingual students this year, 35 more than the previous year, and described how transient enrollment makes year-to-year comparisons challenging.
"We tested 505 students this year; that is 35 more students than last year," Miss Morales said, noting the population is highly mobile and that district counts can change between testing windows. She described the WIDA-based ACCESS for ELs assessment administered in four domains (reading, listening, speaking and writing) and explained exit criteria used to remove students from ESL services when appropriate.
The presenters walked members through grade-level trends: kindergarten and early elementary grades showed growth (the district saw an increase in students reaching "developing" and "expanding" proficiency bands in several grades), second graders posted a substantive increase with about 40% in the developing band, and the district reported a strong gain for 12th graders (a roughly 20—41% increase from the prior year in the expanding/developing categories as noted in the presentation). Presenters cautioned that many new students enter at the lower proficiency bands, which affects aggregated percentages.
A board member asked for future reports to include the number of students who "place out" of services and to track a stable cohort so the board can see growth for students who remain in the district. Miss Morales said she tracks cohorts by scale score to capture growth within domains and offered to include additional cohort and exit counts in future committee reports.
Presenters also noted operational details: grades K-2 do some writing on paper, grades 3-12 are tested on computers, and teachers who administer ACCESS must be recertified each year. The board thanked the presenters and acknowledged the difficulty of serving a mobile multilingual population while noting positive growth among students who remain in the district.
