Supervisor presents sharp rise in multilingual learners and ACCESS results

Rachel Parer, supervisor of federal programs for the district, presented ACCESS assessment results for the 2022–23/2023–24 school year and told the Little Egg Harbor Township Board of Education that identified multilingual learners increased substantially.

Parer said the district assessed 31 students this past school year, up from 16 in an earlier year — a change she described on the slides as a 96% increase; she also noted additional registrations since the slides were produced and cited a 39% increase year-over-year and a 181% increase versus an earlier baseline. Parer said about 40% of the district’s multilingual learners are newcomers to the United States.

Parer explained the ACCESS assessment provides English language proficiency scores from 1 to 6 and that the New Jersey Department of Education uses a 4.5 threshold as one criterion to exit students from language services. She said most students scored in the entering/emerging bands (levels 1–2), while a smaller number scored between 4 and 6. Parer added that four students met proficiency this year and were eligible to exit the program; those students will be monitored for three years after exit.

On growth expectations, Parer noted that the state’s methodology sets five equal intervals between baseline and the 4.5 proficiency benchmark and that the district generally expects students to exit within three to five years. She said nine students met their growth expectations this year and two did not meet the expected growth; the district uses multiple measures, including classroom performance and assessments, when deciding whether to exit a student from services.

Parer told the board the district has submitted a waiver request to the state to determine the scope of bilingual programming the district can offer; she said the district’s predominant non-English language is Spanish but that students speak multiple languages and that offering bilingual programs at every grade level would require more teachers and funding than the district presently has.

Board members asked about class sizes for multilingual learners, professional development for classroom teachers and the prospects for additional state funding; Parer said the district distributes multilingual learners across multiple classrooms (with a typical maximum of about six in the largest classes), provides sheltered English instruction and offers a 350-hour ESL training program that many teachers have taken. On funding, she said the district is hopeful given the enrollment increase but made no promises about additional state dollars.

Parer concluded by noting the district will post the presentation materials on the website and invited board members to follow up with questions.

The board’s next scheduled meeting is Sept. 17 (executive session 6 p.m., public session 7 p.m.).