English Language Learners (ELL)

Our district mission is to educate, inspire, and empower our diverse learners, to shape their futures, to accomplish their dreams and to contribute positively to our local and global communities. This is our mission for our multilingual learners. We use the term "multilingual learners" to refer to the students identified for English Language (EL) services, using all of their language repertoire as an asset to leverage in the classroom and learning. We connect, support, and affirm the cultures, languages, and learning they bring, and the differences strengthen our community.  

Our ML program aims to provide an education for all language learners, with long-range goals for language proficiency, strong foundations, community engagement, and collaborative success. The program intensely supports the complex development of English language competence needed for academic success. We also aim to build stronger connections to our families and community to ensure we are providing whole child support.

 ISD728 ML Department Facts

• 665 students across all K-12 buildings (April 2025)
• Over 70 languages identified in ISD728
• Top 4 languages in ISD728: Spanish, Hmong, Russian, Swahili

Program Structure

The program serves students in grades K to 12 who indicate an additional language to English on the home-language questionnaire and also qualify for services using a language screener. Our program supports students in achieving English language proficiency in a variety of content areas while building upon home/heritage languages and culture. Students receive core instruction in the core/content classrooms and receive intensive language instruction by ML teachers. The amount of time per day that students receive ML instruction and the duration of service is dependent on level of language proficiency.

What is the role of ML teachers?

Our ML/EL teachers received special training to meet the social, cultural and academic needs of multilingual learners. They are certified to provide specialized instruction based on research in language acquisition. Teachers will provide support in the following ways:

• Building communication between parents, the school and the community
• Guiding mainstream teachers in providing appropriate instruction for language learners
• Supporting mainstream teachers in developing curriculum
• Providing multi-level language lessons for multilingual learners
• Assessing students in language proficiency
• Monitoring student progress and adjust program placement

Program Goals

• To achieve social and academic fluency and literacy in the English language

• To increase student achievement in academic content areas
• To improve communications between parents and schools
• To encourage in students a positive attitude towards their own culture
• To strengthen the celebration of diversity within our schools