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DESE finds Hingham ELL program largely compliant; district to fix record-keeping lapse
Summary
A DESE Tiered Focused Monitoring review found Hingham Public Schools met 17 of 18 ELL indicators; the district submitted an action plan to correct one record‑keeping deficiency and will report progress in July, October and December.
Erica Pollard, representing the district's English‑learner program, told the Hingham School Committee on May 18 that the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (DESE) tiered focused monitoring review found the district compliant with 17 of 18 indicators for English‑learner program success.
"I am happy to report that our final report from DESE indicates that we are in compliance with 17 of the 18 indicators for ELL program success," Pollard said. She explained the one area for improvement—criterion 18—relates to student folder record keeping that, in past years, did not include all required materials. Pollard said she submitted the district's action plan the same day and plans an internal audit of existing student folders.
Pollard described the monitoring as part of DESE's accountability cycle that occurs approximately every six years and said the district was a "low incidence" ELL district with 32 English learners (about 0.8% of total enrollment), up from roughly 0.4% in 2024. She listed the most commonly spoken home languages as Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese and named staff who supported the DESE interview process.
DESE will check the district's progress: the reviewer will request an update beginning July 23, with additional progress updates expected in October and December. Pollard told the committee she expects the single record‑keeping issue will be corrected by the fall check‑in.
