EL Newsletter

Do you have an EL in your classroom who you would describe as quiet? Silent, even? It likely is not because they do not understand. A silent period is not unusual for Newcomer ELs. Students are likely taking everything in--noticing routines, making sense of directions, following what others in the class are doing. Their silence may also be a sign of respect for you as the authority in the classroom. Eliciting student input is not necessarily an educational norm in all cultures. Be patient and celebrate the small victories as your students start to feel comfortable in your classroom.

Seidlitz Education shares these thoughts on those quiet students:

"A silent newcomer in September is not a blank slate. They are processing, observing and deciding whether this classroom is a safe place to take risks using unfamiliar language.

Before assuming they don't understand, try three small moves:

1. Give them a nonverbal way to participate--a thumbs up, a written response, or a gesture to a peer. Participation doesn't have to mean speaking on day one.
2. Check what they can do in their first language. Can they explain the concept in Spanish, Arabic or Vietnamese? If yes, then the understanding is there and the English will come.
3. Notice the difference between silence and avoidance. Are they watching, nodding, or writing? Or are they actually disengaged?

The first month is about building trust and confidence, not testing mastery."

You probably have memories of parent-teacher conferences from your past--whether is was as a student leading a student-led parent-teacher conference, as a parent learning about your own student in the classroom or as a teacher, sharing student data and activities with families. Consider though, that including parents in these conversations is not necessarily something that happens around the world. For some of our ML families this tradition of sharing how a student is doing in class is not necessarily traditional and you may need to lay out the purpose of the conference at the onset. A personal invitation to a family may help to stress how much you value their input on their student's success.

A few points to keep in mind when meeting with multilingual families:

• A ML family does not automatically mean the student is an EL. Some ML families' students have exited EL services or have never been ELs.
• We have a legal obligation to communicate with families in a language they can understand--this includes during conferences. If you need an interpreter for a parent-teacher conference please contact your AP.
• Meeting with an interpreter will take longer. Schedule a double-block for your interpreter-assisted conferences. Please not additional tips for meeting with an interpreter on the EL Hub.
• Keep in mind that not every parent (whether or not they are ML) speaks "edu-speak." We use a lot of acronyms and educational lingo. Simplify what you're sharing with families so that it is comprehensible for someone who doesn't spend 8 hours a day in a classroom.

Our back-to-school newsletter shared that, at the time of writing, we had ~150 students who would need to be screened as potential ELs. WOW, did that number explode! By the end of our first full week we had over 400 students who needed to be screened as potential ELs. Our screeners and EL teachers have been hard at work and we currently have about 30 students who still need to be screened. It's a colossal effort every year, but the timely identification of potential ELs is a federal and state obligation for our program.

We currently have 1595 identified English Learners across the district. Central Elementary continues to lead the way with a population of 327.

The Report Card is in and FCSD met the state improvement target in EL for the 2025-26 school year. The growth measure looks at the percent of ELs who met their growth goal and/or demonstrated proficiency on the annual assessment (OELPA), and it is a moving target! This year's goal was 57.25% of our ELs and, as a district, we had 61% of our ELs meet their growth goal or demonstrate proficiency on the Spring '26 OELPA.

In addition, our EL subgroup met both ELA and Math Achievement. ELs were the second highest student group in ELA Growth and the HIGHEST in Math Growth! This success is not only a reflection of the hard work of our EL teachers and tutors, but of the support all of you provide for our ELs in your classrooms. Keep up the good work!