Programs & Services
Bilingual Education & World Languages
The Rochester City School District Department of Bilingual Education and World Languages (BEWL) executes the strategic visioning and execution of priorities for Bilingual Education and World Languages aligned to the district vision and priorities.
The Department of BEWL serves multilingual learners who represent over sixty language backgrounds and are from various ethnic backgrounds. Our multilingual students may be:
- Born in the United States
- Immigrants
- Refugees
- Unaccompanied Minors
- Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE)
- Native Speakers
- Heritage Speakers
- World Language students
- English-speaking Dual Language participants
As such, the Department of BEWL oversees compliance with Commissioner Regulations (CR) Part 154 and Federal regulations, manages interpretation & translation services, designs and assesses English Language Learner (ELL) programs, engages multilingual parents and community advocates, designs academic content, provides consultancy services and advocacy support, provides professional learning, designs expanded learning opportunities, coordinates the New York State Seal of Biliteracy (NYSSB), and supports school staffing selection.
Features & Functions
CR Part 154 Compliance/Federal Compliance
- Identification & Placement
- Language Acquisition & Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
- ELL Testing Accommodations
- Student and Parent Rights
- State Reporting
Interpretation & Translation
- I&T for families
- Exam Interpretations for students
- Content Translations for students
Program Design
- Bilingual Education
- English as a New Language
- Sheltered Instruction
- Newcomer
- SIFE Programs
- World Languages
Multilingual Parent & Community Advocate Engagement
Academic Content – Curriculum, Assessment, & Instruction
- Spanish Language Arts
- World Languages
- Stand-Alone ENL
- Integrated ENL
Consultancy Services and Advocacy Support
Professional Learning
Multilingual Expanded Learning
New York State Seal of Biliteracy Coordination
Operations
Staffing
Eligibility & Prerequisites
The Department of BEWL serves the following students and families:
- Students identified through the New York State Education Department ELL Identification process and their families.
- Former English Language Learners as determined by the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test and their families.
- Multilingual students and their families as self-identified
- Emergent Multilingual Learners in Prekindergarten
- Never ELLs (students never identified as ELLs) participating in Two-Way Dual Language Models and their families.
- All secondary students (7-12) enrolled in World Language courses.
Availability
The Rochester City School District offers Bilingual Programming for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners (ELLs). Spanish-speaking ELLs can choose between a bilingual program and an English as a New Language (ENL) program. While the Rochester City School District does not have the infrastructure to design a language program in other top languages, it currently offers language support at several campuses through personnel who speak various languages (Arabic, Somali, Kinyarwanda, French, Swahili, Dari, Pashto). One campus has a Refugee Grant allowing a newcomer program exclusive access to multilingual personnel in over ten languages. All schools have teachers certified or working on certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Fourteen campuses (15 schools) have teachers certified or working on certification in Bilingual Education. The Teaching & Learning Division also incorporates diverse learner practices into their collaborative professional learning opportunities.
The Office of Human Capital works with Clinically Rich-Intensive Teacher Institutes (CR-ITI), such as Fordham University, and other local universities to support teachers in acquiring Initial, Professional, and Bilingual Certification in content areas or TESOL.
The district works with various agencies and language populations to recruit and retain bilingual Home School Assistants to provide language support and interpretation and translation services.