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Department Overview & Initiatives

 

Bilingual Education and World Languages logo - Rochester skline with the world susetting in front of it

Bilingual Education, ENL & World Languages 

The following programs and services are offered in the Rochester City School District and coordinated by the Bilingual Education, ENL, and World Languages Department.  

Programs & Services 

  • Bilingual Education –Dual Language Models 

  • English as a New Language 

  • World Languages 

  • Home Language Support 

  • Interpretation & Translation Services 

  • Parent & Family Engagement  

  • Commissioners’ Regulation (CR) Part 154 Compliance Systems, Auditing, & Reporting 

  

  

Commitment 

The Rochester City School District serves multilingual learners who speak over sixty languages and are from various ethnic backgrounds. Our multilingual students may be: 

  • Born in the United States 

  • Immigrants 

  • Refugees 

  • Unaccompanied Minors (small population) 

  • Students with Interrupted Formal Education 

  • Heritage Speakers (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse – CALD) 

  • World Language students

  • English-speaking Dual Language participants 

  

All RCSD educators embrace all multilingual learners as emergent bilingual students. We affirm their cultural and linguistic diversity as an essential practice of a high-quality education. We commit to culturally responsive academic and social practices that support graduating each Multilingual Learner as a productive member of a democratic and global society.  

 

Stance on Educating Multilingual Learners 

Language & Literacy Development Approach 

We believe in students employing their full linguistic repertoire to develop language and literacy skills in their home and new language. Through our RCSD Language and Literacy Development Approach (LLDA), we design instruction that 

  1. Embraces and leverages students’ funds of knowledge 

  2. Develops student autonomy 

  3. Creates opportunities to engage in discipline specific practices and build content knowledge while acquiring language  

The RCSD LLDA approach requires alignment to the Instructional Learning Framework, Hallmarks of Advanced Literacy and Scaffolding of Language and Content Standards.  

Culturally Responsive & Integrated Spaces 

Grounded in the NYSED Culturally Responsive Sustaining Framework, we believe in the creation of culturally responsive spaces where students see themselves in the children and adults with whom they attend school. Culturally responsive spaces are not only places where we see the students’ cultures represented, but also places where students feel their culture is represented and embraced. It is marked by the everyday anti-racist practices of leaders, teachers, and students.  

  

In accordance with Lau v. Nichols, students have the right to be integrated with students from diverse backgrounds, including native English Speakers. English Language Learners benefit from authentic interaction with native English Speakers both linguistically and culturally. These interactions prepare students for a global community and economy. Conversely, we believe that monolingual students and staff benefit from the richness in language and culture of our diverse Rochester community. We uplift culturally responsive, yet integrated spaces for our Multilingual Learners.  

  

RCSD Guiding Principles 

  •  Every child deserves to engage with grade-level content every day. 
  • Our students must engage in high-quality culturally responsive experiences where they are affirmed, seen, and valued. 
  • We have an obligation to provide an equitable experience to every student in the district that is not dependent on where they live or where they go to school. 

Bilingual Education Programs For Spanish-Speaking ELLs

  • Transitional Bilingual Education Program
  • One-Way Bilingual Program
  • Dual Language Immersion Program

Each one of the programs above includes an English as a New Language (ENL) program component.

English as a New Language (ENL) Program

  • Integrated ENL instruction
  • Stand-alone instruction with no more than two contiguous grade levels
  • Two years of support services for former ELLs
  • Additional Home Language Supports

Students with Interrupted/Inconsistent Formal Education (SIFE)/ Newcomer program at RIA, Joseph C. Wilson Commencement, & Edison Career and Technology HS. 

Eighty different languages are spoken in the RCSD.

The percentage of ELLs within the total RCSD student population continues to rise. This trend is expected to continue in the next few years. (Data taken from NYSED and SPA for the last two years)