Program Evaluation and Action Plan
Compiled by Jenn Noorjanian, EL Director, Milford Public Schools, Milford, Massachusetts
District EL Department Highlights
MCAS 2.0 and ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Assessments
- Students successfully participated in MCAS 2.0 and ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 assessments.
- School administrators are informed about EL student performance on a regular basis and are given ACCESS for ELLs reports with explanations on how the district performed.
- All Milford staff and administrators are made aware of the importance of providing bilingual dictionaries for all EL and former English learners (FEL) students in the district during the MCAS 2.0 administration. All homeroom teachers received and completed dictionary surveys and order forms which prompted the successful dissemination of dictionaries for this “loaner” program.
Professional Development
- Milford Public Schools is a RETELL SEI Endorsement Cohort 2 school district and SEI Endorsement training is complete.
- Additional SEI PD opportunities are forwarded to the district as they are received by the EL director.
- Annual attendance at the state MATSOL Conference by district staff is celebrated.
- Informal PD during Team Collaboration Time (TCT) is available upon request.
Student Placement, Programming, and Monitoring
- See Student Placement and Programming tab on Home Page.
ESL Teaching Staff and Administration Collaboration with SEI Teachers and Leadership Representatives
- Specific SEI teachers and grade level SEI cluster teams work collaboratively with ESL teachers and our English Learners. The teams of teachers have team collaboration time/common planning time with the EL staff members and students join their English speaking peers during instructional lessons and special subject classes.
- EL representatives are members of all school department meetings, leadership meetings, literacy councils, summer reading meetings, curriculum councils, etc. so that the needs of EL students can be recognized and addressed. This ensures continuing academic and intervention services for English Learners, as well as equal access to all school activities.
Community Outreach
- Milford Community Use
- Milford Youth Center
- Milford Town Library
- There is close coordination between Milford Town Library and Milford Public Schools; the library has a large collection of foreign language books, CDs, videos and DVDs and offers the community ongoing ESL classes and conversation drop-in opportunities.
EL Curriculum Development
- Milford Public Schools has put together a team of SEI and EL teachers to work on a content-based K – 12 English Language Development curriculum using DESE offered UBD MCU templates (curriculum maps, unit plans, scope and sequence documents, WIDA resources, etc.) Time is also spent during curriculum team leader (CTL) meetings.
State Support of EL Directors and Mentoring Efforts
- The district EL director has been instrumental in reaching out to surrounding districts in the Blackstone Valley in order to share professional development opportunities.
- Parent Involvement through ELPAC: Bilingual Parent Groups are in the process of being developed.
- Translations and Interpretation available through the Family Resource Center (FRC)
- State and Federal regulations require that districts provide information about assessment and related academic achievement to parents of EL students in a language that they can understand.
- Report cards and progress reports are available in the major second languages found in our district, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic.
- Parents may request a translation of their child’s report card or progress report by contacting the EL Director or Translation and Interpretation Coordinator for the Milford Public Schools.
- Codes of Conduct are also available in these three languages for each school, as well as the year’s District Calendar.
- ESL Family Bridges liaisons at each school coordinate the effort to have important documents and notices translated into our students’ native languages when deemed necessary or when a request is made.
- International Festival (Woodland Elementary School) – EL and SEI teachers in grades 3 – 5 participate in a festival to celebrate our district’s beautiful cultures and diversity. Tables representing the countries of origin of Stacy’s students displayed information about these cultures, ethnic food was offered and international music and dances were shared.
Other Family Outreach Initiatives where translators are available:
- MCAS 2.0 Informational Evening
- ACCESS for ELLs Informational Evening
- Math nights
- Literacy Fairs
- Multilingual Parent Advisory Council Meetings (MPAC)
- Adult ESL classes offered through our Community Use Program and Milford Public Library
- Back To School Nights
- Parent Information Nights
- Student Assemblies
- Family Community Network
- Kindergarten Orientation Night
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