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District reports higher LAST scores for multilingual learners but fewer ML students this fall
Summary
Staff told the committee that district scores on the LAST improved overall and were above the state average on several subtests, but the Oct. 1 multilingual learner count is lower than last year; staff said year-to-year comparisons require careful interpretation and committed to providing counts and more granular breakdowns.
District staff presented results from the Language Assessment Scales (LAST) for multilingual learners (ML) and reported higher average literacy and oral subtest performance compared with last year and the state average for some student groups.
The presenter cautioned that LAST comparisons can be misleading without accounting for student background and prior exposure to dual-language instruction: "This is a little bit misleading because it could just represent students who have been in the district for more than one year," the presenter said when describing how background affects results.
Staff also noted that the district's October 1 ML headcount was lower this year than last; the presenter said the ML population is variable across the school year and that providing exact counts by grade would help interpretation. Committee members asked for both strand-level LAST detail and explicit counts so the committee could understand whether improvement represented cohort growth or differing student composition.
Next steps: staff agreed to provide per-grade counts for ML students and more detailed LAST breakdowns so the committee can assess whether observed gains reflect instruction, cohort composition or other factors.
