Pupil Services Quarterly
January/February 2020
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide you with updates and reminders from the Office of Pupil Services so that you are best equipped to support all of our students. If you need additional information, please do not hesitate to email my office.
Supporting our EL/FEL Students
ACCESS TESTING will take place from January 6th through February 7th
EL students are required to participate in this testing. As a result, they will miss some class time. Please know that the ESL department is working closely with building administrators to ensure as little impact as possible. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Seal of Biliteracy
Recently, Coleen Thomas-DeBari, Melissa Dabney, and Stephanie DeLucia shared with families that the Millbury Public Schools is participating in the Massachusetts State Seal of Biliteracy for the 2019-2020 school year. The Seal of Biliteracy is awarded to any student who demonstrates proficiency in English and any other language, whether they speak the non-English language at home or learned it at school or in the community. It promotes biliteracy as an asset and rewards students’ hard work in becoming bilingual and biliterate. The Seal of Biliteracy will take the form of a seal placed on their transcript/diploma.
The State Seal of Biliteracy aims to:
Encourage students to study and master languages;
Certify attainment of biliteracy skills;
Recognize the value of language diversity;
Provide employers with a method of identifying people with language and biliteracy skills;
Provide universities with a method to recognize and give credit to applicants for attainment of high-level skills in languages;
Prepare students with skills that will benefit them in the labor market and the global society; and
Strengthen intergroup communication and honor the multiple cultures and languages in a community.
In order to earn the Seal of Biliteracy, students must be in their Junior or Senior year and:
A. Demonstrate a high level of proficiency in English by satisfying one of the following:
Earn a score of 240 or higher on the Grade 10 Legacy ELA MCAS (472 on Next-Gen MCAS), or
Earn a score of 220 or higher on the Grade 10 Legacy ELA MCAS (455 on Next-Gen MCAS) and complete an Educational Proficiency Plan, or
Earn a score of 4.2 Overall with a 3.9 Literacy score on the ACCESS for ELLs
B. Demonstrate a high level of proficiency in a foreign language through the following:
Attaining a minimum score equivalent to Intermediate-High on a state approved assessment (AAPPL).
The AAPPL (ACTFL Assessment of Performance Toward Proficiency in Languages) will be administered on Monday, January 13th and Tuesday, January 14th, and will allow for retakes on April 15, 2020, if needed. All testing will take place during the school day. Students seeking to earn the Seal must attain the minimum score on the AAPPL prior to their graduation date. The languages that are available for testing through AAPPL are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Thai.
We look forward to honoring the language expertise and diversity in our district through this initiative. For more information about the Seal of Biliteracy can be obtained at https://sealofbiliteracyma.org
"Seeing Their Strengths": a great read for ALL educators. This article comes from EL Educational Leadership (December 2019/January 2020 | Volume 77 | Number 4 Building Bridges for ELLs Pages 24-28)
REMINDERS FROM HEALTH SERVICES
It's Flu Season
Take a moment to review this brochure, "Flu & You," to learn more about signs of the flu and ways to fight it!
Field Trips, Extracurricular Outings
Given the wide range of medical needs among our students, field trip coordinators and club advisors must connect with the school nurse at least 4 weeks before the trip to review the medical needs of students that may potentially be participating in the trip or outing. This provides time to review the individual needs and to determine if a nurse must attend or if staff can be trained to administer medication.
Be sure to read and follow IEPs and 504 Plans
Many students have had their annual IEP or 504 meeting. Therefore, the document has likely been revised to address current needs. Please be sure you are checking in with the special education liaisons and guidance counselors to review the updated documents.
- all IEPs and 504 Plans can be accessed through your Aspen account.
- implementation includes service delivery as well as allowing students access to his/her accommodations and modifications.
- accommodations are to be used routinely, during daily classroom instruction. If a student is not accessing the accommodation(s) or refusing to use them, please have a conversation with the Team Chair or Guidance Counselor
- maintain an updated Student Accommodation Sheet
Preschool Applications will be available soon!
Unfortunately, there is no employee discount nor is there midday care at Elmwood. Before and After school care is available for 4-year-old preschool students only. For more information about this program, please contact Michelle Gauthier (mgauthier@millburyschools.org).
Again, the application will be released in the coming days. We will accept applications until the end of January and accepted students and their families will be notified by March.
HELPFUL RESOURCES
EL/FEL Student Resources Folder: this resource was created by the ESL Department. It contains resources to support you in your work with our EL (English Learner) /FEL (Former English Learner) students.
IEP At a Glance: this document will allow you to make note of key aspects of a student's IEP. This is not required, but you may find it helpful. (I have been told that the first document is more user-friendly and preferred.)
Request for Translator/Interpreter Services form
Pupil Services Office
Mary O'Brien, Administrative Assistant
Email: kryan@millburyschools.org
Website: https://www.millburyschools.org/domain/15
Location: 12 Martin Street, Millbury, MA, USA
Phone: 508-865-0875