During the month of October our office with the help of good people in our buildings conducted a self-assessment of our English Language Learner program. We spent considerable time as a committee reviewing our practices and procedures. We also spent time studying the law and figuring out where we needed improvement. Complying with the law was an important piece, but I was pleased to realize that the group was much more concerned with doing the right things for kids than they were with simple compliance.

            Representatives from the state office came and went through our records, visited our middle school and high school classes, had conversation with a few of our parents of ELL students, and gave us some suggestions to bolster our program. They were extremely helpful to all of us. We want to make sure our English Language Learners are getting all the help they need to succeed, and they could sense that from being in our schools. My biggest hope for our students who are learning English as a second language is that they will be proud of their ability to speak two languages and that they will use both throughout their lives. We want them to maintain their skills and pass not only their bilingual skills, but their native culture on to their children. We have future plans of awarding our successful students with the bi-literacy seal, which will be placed on their high school diploma.

            The following is a quote from Christelle Estrada from the state board of education office: “Our visit to North Summit was successful in so many ways: financial documentation, parent focus group that supports future plans for quality parent engagement, classroom visits, collaborative approaches to ensure quality professional development through the WIDA elearning opportunity and the plan to ensure that North Summit students qualify for Utah's Biliteracy Seal. Thank you Superintendent Holmes and team.”

Jerre Holmes

Superintendent