Proposed changes to a Montgomery County Public Schools policy applying to students learning English while developing their native language skills aim to promote the strengths and assets of multilingual students.
Such students, identified as emergent multilingual learners (EMLs), are defined as “people of any age who are learning more than one language and developing proficiency to participate and be successful in their environment,” according to the Education Development Center. More than 160 languages are spoken by MCPS students, according to the district’s website.
Under the proposed revisions, the existing “Education of English Learners” policy would be renamed “Emergent Multilingual Learners” and shift away from a “deficit-orientation of viewing students as only being deficient in English language proficiency,” according to board documents.
The revisions also align with guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, the Maryland State Department of Education, an evaluation of MCPS programs by the Center for Applied Linguistics – a Washington, D.C.-based private, nonprofit organization focused on language education, research and policy – research and best practices, according to board documents.
The drafted policy revisions are available for public comment until May 6.
Board of Education President Karla Silvestre told MoCo360 Monday that the current policy name is based on an “antiquated deficit model, in terms of ‘You’re not quite there, you still have to learn English.’”
Yared Velazquez, a supervisor in MCPS’ Department of English Learners and Multilingual Education, told the school board at its Thursday meeting that it is “essential to appreciate the multilingualism of our emerging multilingual learners, along with recognizing the linguistic and cultural assets that they contribute to both the classroom and broader school community.”
Valezquez said MCPS “must promote an educational landscape that recognizes and maximizes the potential of linguistic diversity.”
“Language should not serve as a barrier preventing our EML from accessing high-quality educational opportunities,” Velazquez said.
Students who primarily speak a language other than English are one of the fastest-growing populations in the school system, MCPS officials said. According to MCPS, about 18.6% of all students are emergent multilingual learners this school year, an increase of 2.3 percentage points from the 2021-2022 school year.
In addition, about 43% of Montgomery County residents speak a language other than English at home and 17% of residents speak Spanish, according to U.S. census data. In the United States, more than 10% of all public school students are classified as English learners, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.
The district has already shifted the language used to identify students receiving English language development services, formerly identified as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram said Monday.
During Thursday’s meeting, board member Grace Rivera-Oven (Dist. 3) praised the proposed policy changes but pointed out that the label “emergent multilingual learner” does not directly translate into Spanish.
“I like it, but I like ‘gifted’ better than multilingual learners,” she said. “How would you say ‘emergent’ in Spanish? Most of our students are Spanish speaking so as a former interpreter, I cannot think of something that is similar and I think that’s going to be an issue.”
Board member Julie Yang agreed. “I’m a native speaker of Chinese language and cannot come up with the words,” she said.
Silvestre told MoCo360 that MCPS will need to “come to some consensus as to what the district will use when they are describing the program.”
“Oftentimes in translation work things don’t translate literally and you shouldn’t try it because it sounds like convoluted language that parents don’t use,” she said.
Silvestre said she appreciated that the proposed policy revisions retain mention of high expectations for emergent multilingual students.
“They do learn, they can learn and we should challenge them with support so that they can acquire the language while they’re learning the content appropriately,” she said.