Welcome to Multilingual Student Services. Our goal is to ensure that our students learning English feel connected and included in their schools, students reach academic success on their path to biliteracy, and the families of our English learners partner with us to provide input on services that best meet the needs of each child. We want to ensure the acquisition of English and enhance academic success for our diverse English language learners (ELs) as well as advance biliteracy for all students. In order to support these goals, we have dedicated TOSAs for our students learning English, whose specific goal is to support teachers in delivering instruction that helps our students access rigorous, grade-level content and to address the specific learning requirements of our ELs and all language learners as they progress towards biliteracy. Each school site offers clubs, sports, and other opportunities for student involvement, and we connect with parents through our District English Learner Advisory Committee. We continue to work together towards biliteracy for all students.
Department Contacts:
Elisa Van Horn, Director
Jinder Chahal, EL Coordinator III
Rita Kim, ELD TOSA
Gisela Gutierrez, Administrative Assistant
Phone Number: 916-561-5203
English Learner Master Plan
NUSD has utilized classroom walks, parent and staff input through surveys, meetings, and focus groups, collaboration with EL experts in the field, research on best practices and recommendations, and data analysis to develop a comprehensive English Learner Master Plan. This plan enables us to provide a comprehensive approach for access to high-quality, appropriate services and supports to our English Learners as well as providing staff resources, tools, and supports to enhance staff knowledge and practices of effective instruction for our students learning English.
The services outlined in Natomas Unified’s English Learner Master Plan align with our core values: that we value diversity, equity, and inclusion, we value learning and achievement for each of our students, we value our families as partners in the education of their students, and we value our committed, collaborative, caring, and exemplary employees. This foundation will be built by providing a district expectation of high-quality instruction and services for our English Learners based on achievement. We will also celebrate and recognize achievement through opportunities such as the State Seal of Biliteracy.
Dual Immersion
Natomas Unified School District is proud to offer a dual immersion school. Heredia-Arriaga is unique amongst our elementary campuses because it has a Spanish dual language immersion (DLI) program, also commonly known as two-way immersion. Research shows that a DLI program can provide students with academic success at or above grade level in two languages. Students who enroll into DLI programs speak English, Spanish, or both English and Spanish. The goal of the DLI program is for all students to achieve or exceed grade-level academic standards, to become bilingual (can formally read, write, and speak) in both Spanish and English and to gain cross-cultural understanding. It is an opportunity for students to develop positive attitudes about students who speak other languages and have different cultural backgrounds, and it helps prepare students for college and career. We are pleased to be able to offer this option to our students and families.
You can learn more about Heredia-Arriaga on the school website.
District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC)
The purpose of the District English Learner Advisory Committee is to have communication between the district office, schools, parents, and families to support our English learner students. The DELAC is tasked with advising the school district governing board on various matters, including developing a district master plan for English learner education programs, conducting needs assessments, setting goals, ensuring compliance with teacher requirements, reviewing reclassification procedures, and providing input on parental notifications. The DELAC also reviews and comments on the development or annual update of the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).
Our DELAC members are the voice for how we serve English learners in NUSD. We value the input of our families and community members and invite you to attend our meetings. Food and child care is provided at each meeting.
Site English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC)
California public schools with 21 or more students learning English must create a group called the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC). The ELAC has some important jobs:
- Advising the principal and staff in the development of a site plan for English learners and submitting the plan to the School Site Council for consideration of inclusion in the School Plan for Student Achievement
- Assisting in the development of the schoolwide needs assessment.
- Helping parents with awareness of the importance of regular school attendance.
- Every ELAC can choose one person to be part of the District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC). If a district has 31 or more ELACs, they might use a system where each area has a say
- The ELAC must have parents or guardians of English-learning students as members. The number of these parents or guardians in the ELAC should match the percentage of English-learning students in the school. These parents or guardians will vote to choose the members of the ELAC.
If you are interested in joining the ELAC at your child(s)’ school, please reach out to your site principal for information.
State Seal of Biliteracy
Purpose of the State Seal of Biliteracy (from California Department of Education)
The State Seal of Biliteracy (SSB) was established to recognize high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in one or more languages in addition to English. The purposes of the SSB are to encourage pupils to study languages, to certify attainment of biliteracy, to provide employers with a method of identifying people with language and biliteracy skills, to provide universities with a method to recognize and give academic credit to applicants seeking admission, to prepare pupils with 21st-century skills, to recognize and promote foreign language instruction in public schools, and to strengthen intergroup relationships, affirm the value of diversity, and honor the multiple cultures and languages of a community (California Education Code [EC] Section 51460.)
State Seal of Biliteracy Brochure: Click for English, Spanish, or Punjabi.
Reclassification
Our goal is to support our English learners to become fluent in English, and move from English learner status to RFEP, or reclassified as fluent English proficient.
In order to meet reclassification criteria, students must:
● score a 4 on the annual English Language Proficiency Assessments of California (ELPAC).
● score at standard nearly met (2) or higher on most recent iReady Diagnostic Assessment, IXL Diagnostic Assessment, or most recent ELA CAASPP.
● earn grades of 2 or higher (elementary) in all ELA standard areas or a C- or higher (secondary)
in quarter or semester course grades.
Teachers provide input regarding student proficiency levels. Student’s parents/guardians also provide input to ensure that students are ready for reclassification.
English Learner Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) testing (live link)
