Southern Illinois News

Illinois State Board of Education Multilingual/Language Development Department, Illinois Advisory Council on Bilingual Education met April 9.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

Present:

Jean Barbanente DuPage 88, IACBE, Erica Craig - DuPage 88, Griselda Pirtle - U46, Elgin, Jill Kingsfield - CCSD 89, DuPage, Limaris Pueyo - Community School District 200, Wheaton, Mireya Sanchez - CCSD93, Bloomingdale, Sandra Moran - District 121, Warren Township High School, Susanna Melon - Glenbard 87, Josie Yanguas - IACBE, Francela Lopez, Berwyn North District 98, Yadi Alfaro - Woodridge District 68, Beata Arceo - CPS

Public Comment: Jill Kingsfield, CCSD 89 expressed that it has been an honor to work alongside the Directors on the committee. She expressed that she has been working to service ELs and multilingual families for many years, and that she remembers a time that families wanted to hide and oftentimes didn’t advocate for themselves. She stated that she is so proud of the environments that have been created now where multilingual families feel valued, seen, heard, and empowered. She expressed that the work that is being done by the secondary committee is some of the most rewarding she has been part of and she thanked everyone for their efforts.

Approval of Minutes from 2/20 - Motion to approve, Josie; 2nd Rachel; motion carried.

Q/A - Evaluation of Foreign Transcripts and Records

The committee welcomed Beata Arceo from the CPS Foreign Student Services office - https://www.cps.edu/services-and-supports/foreign-student-services/. Ms. Arceo shared processes and procedures and resources used to evaluate foreign transcripts, including situations where there are limited or no records. Resources shared are below:

https://applications.wes.org/country-resources/resources.asp

https://www.scholaro.com/db/

https://www.nafsa.org/

Ms. Arceo also shared information on the Chicago Public Schools Options program which allows high school students to enroll in a ‘fast track’ to complete graduation requirements and obtain vocational training before turning age 21.

https://www.cps.edu/schools/networks/network-options/

Ms. Arceo shared that CPS has 7 levels of English. When placing students from countries where English is not the official language, they consider the ACCESS scores and English as a Foreign Language coursework. They give English credit for the coursework based on the ACCESS placement. For example, if the student scores indicate an ESL 2 placement and they student had a year of English in his/her home country, they would grant the year of English credit.

Discussion of Next Steps - IACBE HLS recommendations:

The committee discussed the ISBE response to the HLS DRAFTS and research. Jean Barbanente shared the follow up email that was sent to ISBE requesting the full transcript of the ISBE report that was given at the March IACBE meeting and also asking if ISBE has any intention to pursue revisions to the HLS. She shared that as of April 9, there had been no response from ISBE.

The committee decided that it is not worth the time of the committee to continue to draft proposals if the ISBE is not willing to consider any revisions at this time and/or if the ISBE protocol is required federally, and cannot be altered. It was suggested to reach out for more clarification on ISBE’s interpretation of the federal regulations from the Office of Civil Rights and to OELA and NCELA.

Next steps:

Sandra Moran offered to reach out to OELA/NCELA and Jean Barbanente offered to get in touch with OCR. Josie shared that we have the option to attend the ISBE committee meetings and Erica Craig shared the link: https://www.isbe.net/boardmeetings

New Business:

Next Meeting of the IACBE Secondary Committee will be May 21, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at DuPage High School District 88 - 2 Friendship Plaza, Addison, IL 60101 - ZOOM - https://dupage88-net.zoom.us/j/85378947979?pwd=QU8zS0xCWTcvb1Z3N0pxOW02RGxHdz09

Next Meeting of the IACBE will be June 7, 2024

11:41 a.m. Motion to Adjourn, Jean; 2nd Josie; motion passes

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QKRfoXU9mbld5HZVhwJgb04DRuo2OzB6z-UXIj1glDU/edit