We are nearing the finish line for fall semester of the 2024-25 school year! May we all finish strong in getting our students through the first half of the school year.

Our English Language Development (ELD) Program has been busy supporting our multilingual and English learners. Our work included administering the initial English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) testing for roughly 96 English learners thus far. In late October, our district heard from Dr. Kate Kinsella who spoke to our site and district administrators about the importance of supporting our English learners. She shared her research around instructional pedagogy and strategies to help our English learners acquire the English language and be successful in their schooling and learning.

Dr. Kate Kinsella's website states:

"A highly-sought after speaker and consultant to school districts and U.S. State Departments of Education, Dr. Kinsella has provided guidance and training for teachers of English learners in suburban, urban and rural contexts throughout the nation. Her 30-year teaching career focus has been equipping youths from diverse economic and linguistic backgrounds with the academic English language, reading and writing skills to be truly college ready."

Our site administrators also received training from Los Angeles County Office of Education's Multilingual Academic Support Unit in November. During this training, site administrators were introduced to the requirements of supporting English learners and had the opportunity to engage in conversations around supporting students at their sites with unique student needs. Our administrators are now equipped with toolkits to support the work at their sites. Finally, our support staff of bilingual instructional aides and primary language assistants also received training on the November 1st Staff Development Day on how to access supports for our English learners.

We look forward to an exciting second semester. Our DELAC Meeting on January 15, 2025, will be a celebration and recognition of all of our English learners who were reclassified during the fall semester 2024-25. We cannot wait to celebrate our students.

Sincerely,

Kim Lawe, Ed.D.

On behalf of Curriculum & Instruction

Educational Services Division

Watch and listen to Luis Padilla's story of coming to Bonita Unified and San Dimas High School as an English learner. He shares in his challenges and how he navigated the system, with the help of amazing educators, to get to where he is at. Luis is a senior this year and looks forward to graduating and continuing on with his career interests.

Teachers throughout our districts continue to utilize research-based strategies and find innovative ways to support our English learners. Ramona Middle School science teacher, Jessica Wade, uses a microphone and translation tool to translate her speech to text. This not only helps our English learners but also our English-only learners as they can hear the teacher's lecture but can also visually see the text. Would love to hear what other strategies are being used by our amazing and innovative teachers. Share a strategy at the link at the bottom of this page.

Our students who reclassified during Fall Semester 2024-25 will be receiving an invite to be recognized at our next DELAC Meeting on January 15, 2025. It will be a time to recognize students for such a huge achievement and to show gratitude to our families for their support. We invite the administrators, teachers, support staff, DELAC members, and our families to join in on the celebration.

Bonita Unified School District English Learner Reclassification Celebration

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

District Office Board Room

5:45 p.m. - Student Check-In

6:00 p.m. - Ceremony

Light refreshments will be provided.

The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) is the mandated state test used to measure how well students in kindergarten through twelfth grade understand English when it is not their primary language. The ELPAC consists of 2 separate English language proficiency (ELP) assessments: The Initial ELPAC, and the Summative ELPAC.

The Initial ELPAC

The Initial ELPAC is used to identify students as English learners (ELs) who need support to learn English, or as proficient in English. It is given to newly enrolled students whose primary language is not English and who have not been previously identified as EL. Students are given the Initial ELPAC within 30 days of when they enroll at school. Identifying students who need help learning English is important so that student can receive the support they need to do well in school.

Summative ELPAC

The Summative ELPAC is given to students who were identified as EL on the Initial ELPAC. The purpose of the Summative assessment is to determine a students level of English language proficiency. EL students are assessed in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. EL students will take the Summative ELPAC annually in the spring until they are reclassified as English proficient.

The Summative ELPAC will be available in the secure state testing system from February 3, 2025, through May 30, 2025. All students who are designated as English Learners in AERIES and who have not been reclassified are required to take the Summative ELPAC annually. This includes those students who may not be in an ELD support class. If you have questions about a student's status, reach out to your school administrator.

Practice & Training Tests

Did you know that students can take the practice test so they can be more prepared for the Summative ELPAC? Resources for teachers, students, and parents can be found on the California state CAASPP/ELPAC testing site at the link below.

We are grateful for the support provided by our Bilingual Instructional Aides (BIAs) and Primary Language Assistants (PLAs). We would like to thank Sofia Alba (PLA) for her many years of service. We wish her well on her recent retirement. At the same time, we are excited to have Mercedes Romero be our newest PLA currently serving La Verne schools. She continues to work with Hana Farraj (PLA) who is supporting San Dimas schools. Finally, we want to welcome to our newest BIA, Anthony Figueroa, to the team. When you see them on your campus, know that they are here to support our EL students and our teachers.

• Denise Atallah at Shull and Allen Elementary
• Ghada Afif at San Dimas HS
• Gwen Ponce/Hanine Mershad at Roynon Elementary
• Hana Farraj at Lone Hill Middle School
• Irene Martinez at Ekstrand Elementary
• Mercedes De La Cruz at Oak Mesa and Grace Miller Elementary
• Anthony Figueroa at Gladstone and La Verne Heights Elementary
• Mercedes Romero at Bonita High School
• Tania Shutts at Ramona Middle School

Based on the 2023 California Dashboard, 5.2% of our overall student population were English learners. That is about 500 students. The data above contains the number of English learners by site so far for the 2024-25 school year. Feel free to click on the presentation below to browse through 5-year data trends on our English learners.

Many thanks to our ELAC/DELAC parents who attended our first DELAC meeting on October 16, 2024. Despite a brief power outage, we powered through our DELAC training and shared some data and resources. We look forward to our January 2025 meeting to celebrate students who reclassified during fall semester of 2024-25.

DELAC Meeting dates are listed below. All DELAC Meetings will be held at 5:00pm at the District Office Board Room.

October 16, 2024

January 15, 2025 - Student Recognition Event following DELAC

March 19, 2025

May 21, 2025

Background Information on ELAC/DELAC

In accordance with the California Education Code, section 52176(b), all schools with twenty-one (21) or more English Learner (EL) students, not including Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) students, are required to establish an English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC).

Schools are required to form the ELAC at any time during the school year when the number of identified EL students reaches 21 or more.

All parents with students attending the school in which the ELAC is established are eligible and should be encouraged to participate in the ELAC. The principal must ensure that ELAC members receive appropriate training.

The responsibilities of the ELAC include:

• Advising the School Site Council (SSC) on the development of the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), especially those sections related to English learner
• Assisting in the development of the school’s Needs assessment, Language census.
• Making efforts to make parents aware of the importance of regular school attendance.
• Advising the principal and staff on the school’s program for English learners.
• Assisting the District ELAC in the dissemination of information and materials related to all aspects of the Master Plan for English Learners
• Advising in the development of and approval of the school’s Title III and Economic Impact Aid-Limited English Proficient (EIA-LEP) budgets. (California Department of Education)

Curriculum and Instruction is happy to assist with the training process and is providing an ELAC training slide presentation here for all principals and ELAC members. Each site sends at least 1 representative and one alternative to be a part of the District English Language Advisory Committee (DELAC).

Click on the linkable image below for some tips for supporting our English learners. How else do you support English learners in your classroom and at your sites? We would love to hear from our dedicated educators so we can share best practices. Please click on the button below or scan the QR code to share your best practices. We hope to post those teaching tips and strategies in our next newsletter.

Two shared teaching tips from our September 2024 newsletter were to greet students at the door and get to know them within the first couple of weeks of school. Great ideas so keep sharing!

Bonita Unified School District

Curriculum and Instruction

Educational Services Division

115 W. Allen Avenue

San Dimas, CA 91773