Eau Claire district says multilingual learners are making steady gains as staff outline supports

District staff presented a comprehensive update on multilingual learners (ML) at the meeting, highlighting demographics, assessment trends and program priorities.

Dr. Zhang and the student-services team said the district currently has 564 students receiving ML services (and 943 students who self-identify as bilingual regardless of service enrollment). Staff noted 32 unique home languages reported in the district and that newcomer students are primarily Spanish and Hmong speakers; smaller numbers speak Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese and other languages. The district emphasized that the term “immigrant” in state reporting applies only to students in the U.S. three years or less.

Misty Tolbridge and ML teachers reviewed ACCESS (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State) screening and scoring, explaining that typical academic-language acquisition often takes five to seven years. The district reported that 44% of ML students showed “high growth” on ACCESS in 2024–25 and that exit rates from ML services have increased due to targeted instructional strategies. Staff also pointed to improvements on Forward ELA and pre-ACT measures, and said ECASD ML students compare favorably with state peers on some college-readiness indicators.

School staff described classroom strategies being implemented: individualized language development plans, embedding WIDA standards in content instruction, coordinated monitoring for students near exit thresholds (4.5–4.9 on ACCESS), and greater use of bilingual educational assistants to connect families and classrooms. Speakers acknowledged challenges — small cohort sizes, student mobility, and difficulty finding bilingual assistants for some languages such as Vietnamese — and described tools the district is using to reach families (phone outreach, in-person meetings and contracted translation services when needed).

Board members asked about opt-out reasons, supports for families, and how the board should track ML progress within its R2/R3/R4 reporting framework. Staff recommended emphasizing ACCESS-growth indicators (not only proficiency cutoffs) as a key success metric and committed to reporting growth alongside broader achievement measures.

The presentation concluded with an offer from staff to consult on board-level reporting and with board members praising the district’s asset-based approach. Board members and student representatives urged wider communication about the program to attract families and celebrate results.