THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF BOSTON Minutes of the English Language Learners (ELL) Task Force Meeting Feb. 7, 2014 The English Language Learners Task Force of the Boston School Committee held a meeting on Feb. 7, 2014 at 9:00am at 26 Court Street, 1st floor conference room. For more information about any of the items listed below, contact Harry Smith, ELL Task Force Coordinator, at [email protected]. ________________________________________________________________________ Call to Order: Task Force Members Present: Bob Hildreth, Maria Serpa, Paulo De Barros, John Mudd, Achly Esparra, Cheng Imm Tan, Janet Anderson, Jennifer Reyes, Naeema Hernandez, Harry Smith-facilitator. Other persons and BPS Staff Present: Dr. Eileen de los Reyes- BPS Chief Academic Officer, Antonieta Bolomey-Asst. Superintendent for English Language Learners, Cynthia Jerez, Farah Assiraj- BPS OELL, Klare Shaw, Kim Janey. Members Absent: Diana Lam, Theresa Perry, Claudio Martinez, Abdul Hussein, Wilmer Quinones, Suzanne Lee. The meeting was called to order by Harry Smith. The minutes of the 12-6-14 Task Force meeting were unanimously approved. Update and Discussion: BPS Action Plan for staff hiring and diversity. Ceronne Daly and Jared Joiner presented document: “SY 13-14 Teacher Diversity Action Plan- Pipeline Development Programs.” Diversity is now integrated with all OHC project areas. Goal is to increase diversity of the workforce to reflect the diversity of BPS student population. New recruitment and hiring process is multi-pronged approach to improve diversity. Presented teacher diversity action plan. Includes four major strategies: Recruitment, Pipeline Development, Hiring/Staffing, Retention. Includes marketing and advertising, new website (teachboston.org) and Talent Ed, Open Posting by any school, and Opportunity to Hire. They also detailed OHC programs to recruit and retain and promote BPS teachers of color, paraprofessionals of color, and substitutes of color. Highlighted Community to Paraprofessional program (CPDP). Questions/Comments: -Should highlight linguistic diversity. -How are we interviewing in a way that is culturally responsive to applicants? -How many teachers leave BPS per year? A about 300. How many new hires come from these programs? A no numbers on sourcing of new hires. -Need to define diversity- cultural proficiency vs diversity is key conversation. -Challenge- Can we make open posting work? How many current postings need to be ELL trained? What is need for ELL teachers? Concerned that pool of candidates is not yet big enough. -How are we screening and interviewing candidates? Who really hires ELL teachers? Schools or central? If it is schools, what training do school leaders have to make selections? -How are you requiring school leaders to meet diversity goals? Does it apply to schools with full autonomy as well as hiring autonomy? -Should put mechanism in place for school leaders to explain why they are at the level they are at in terms of staff diversity. -Need to address student debt issue. Very confusing for new teachers. Should provide financial counselor for new teachers. -Where are we in terms of diversity goals? Need to have fuller understanding of how teachers relate to ELL students and how they are trained. OELL and OHC will meet to clarify what BPS is looking for in teachers working with ELL students. -Need to have partnerships with Cap Verdean community groups. -Make sure the website doesn't put up hurdles to applicants. Action- Group review plan and send comments to Harry and he will send to Ceronne. Request- Send ELL Task Force the number of openings for ELL teachers. BPS strategies to address needs of ELL students with disabilities Antonieta gave presentation- “English Language Learners with Disabilities SY13-14.” Presented data about ELL students with disabilities. Highlights: -29% of bps students are ELLs (15,519), 19% of Bps students are SWDs (10,516), 21% of ELLs have disabilities (3,214), 31% of SWDs are ELLs (3,214). -55% of ELL students with disabilities are in inclusion programs, 45% in sub sep. Eileen Nash will be invited to the April meeting to talk about strategies. Questions and issues the group would like to discuss include: -Please give update and definition of Inclusion Schools. What distinguishes an Inclusion School from other schools? What is impact of Inclusion schools on ELL students with disabilities? What supports does BPS provide to schools that are moving to Inclusion? Are there specific supports for Inclusion schools with a large ELL student population? -.4 issue- What % of .4s are in substantially separate settings? -What is strategy to address issue of long-term ELL students with disabilities? -What are Professional Development requirements/resources for staff working with ELL students with disabilities? -What are dual language immersion opportunities for ELL students with disabilities? -Issue of lack of cultural competency in pre-referral and assessment process. How does this impact your work? Is it leading to over or underrepresentation of ELL students in different categories? -How are OELL and OSESS coordinating and communicating to move this work forward? -What are the biggest challenges to supporting the academic achievement of ELL students with disabilities? Other Business -BPS Budget- members would like to get clearer understanding of whether BPS is meeting commitments that were made to expand dual language programming in the district. -At April meeting, group would like to discuss with Eileen de los Reyes the Common Core and its impact on ELL students. Meeting was adjourned at 12:00pm. Next meeting is April 4.