Family/Guardian Involvement
Ways Families Can Get Involved
1. ELPAC (English Learner Parent Advisory Council)
The English Learner Parent Advisory Council (ELPAC) is made up of parents and legal guardians of English learners. Membership is voluntary and is open to all parents and legal guardians of student who are or have been identified as English learners. ELPAC typically meets three time per year.
The mission of the Webster ELPAC is to work to promote multilingual and multicultural values for all students. We will welcome and support the families of English language learners into the Webster community. To that end, members will work to pormote a network of parents of multilingual children, and provide a forum to share infomation; and to advise the School Commiteee, Superintendent and the Director of English Language Learning on the development and evaluation of programs, long range planning, district-wide policy decisions, and the budget for English Leanguage Learning.
2. Stay in touch with your child's school by signing up for ClassDojo. Using DOJO, you are able to view the messages nad school stories shared by your child's teacher and school in different languages. If you number or address changes, pleas update the schools.
3. Participate in school events, whether they are sponsored by the school, district, classroom, or the ELL teachers.
4. Please check papers in your child's bags for important notices and so you can see some of the work that your child completes.
5. Periodically, the district asks families to complete surveys so that we can obtain input from families. These are emailed, posted on DOJO, and are linked on the website. Please participate!
6. Reach out to us if you have any questions. We have a Bilingual Family Liaison and several other staff memeber who can speak Spanish and Portuguese. In addition, we have the abilty to assist with translation through a phone service and through translation devices.
We are counting on your vioce to hoelpus do the best we can to support you and your children!
Family Resources - English Learner Education
Upholding the Rights of Immigrant Students to Enroll in School:
The Executive Office of Education, DESE, and the Attorney General’s Office recently issued Guidance for School Committees and Districts on Upholding the Rights of Immigrant Students to Enroll in School. The three offices also issued guides for families and students, and the guides are available in multiple languages at the same link as the guidance. The materials help clarify for school committees, superintendents, and administrators the rights of immigrant students and information that school districts may and may not require in their enrollment policies.
English Proficiency Benchmarks
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has developed benchmarks for attaining English language proficiency for English Learners (ELs). DESE will define and disseminate to districts each fall the English language proficiency benchmarks, or individual targets, for each student’s annual progress toward English proficiency. Meeting benchmarks means an EL is on track to attain English proficiency within six years of entering a Massachusetts public school. Some ELs will attain English proficiency before year six, while others may take longer. Students are not required to become proficient within a specific period, but research indicates that ELs typically achieve proficiency in four to seven years.
When a student has NOT made progress on ACCESS Testing, the school will develop a Student Success Plan. We welcome and encourage student and family participation in teh development of the goals for these plans.
English Language Eduction Department Announcements: