July 27, 2023

Region 4

Multilingual Learner Leadership Network (MLLN) Newsletter

Welcome to the 2023-24 Region 4 Multilingual Learner Leadership Network (MLLN)!

We hope you had a chance to relax a bit over the summer and are re-energized for the new school year! Our MLLN is a collaborative that focuses on the improvement and support for English Learner and multilingual programs across the counties in Bay Area Region 4 (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano). Members receive a biweekly newsletter with important information and resources. Besides serving as a forum for sharing state and federal updates and upcoming professional learning opportunities, MLLN aims to provide a support network for one another around our work in meeting the needs of our multilingual learners. We make greater impact together!

As the new school year begins, please feel free to reach out with any questions or support that you may need with regards to EL, Title III, and multilingual programs. We look forward to another year of collaborating with you to continually improve our programs and services for all of our multilingual learners!

Important Updates

Title III and CARS Update

2023–24 Spring Release

The opening date for the data collection forms of the 2023–24 Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) Spring Release was Friday, July 14, 2023. The deadline is 11:59pm on Thursday, August 31, 2023, and the forms will close at 11:59pm on Saturday, September 30, 2023. Forms will not be reopened after their close date. If you have difficulty logging into, need other technical assistance with, or have questions about, CARS, contact ConAppSupport@cde.ca.gov or 916-319-0297. Additional resources, including links to CARS, the Centralized Authentication System, a User Guide, and a Navigating CARS webinar, are available on the CARS web page.

ELPAC Updates

Reclassification with Summative Alternate ELPAC

CDE has released a letter to the field communicating the Guidance for Reclassification with the Summative Alternate ELPAC for 2022–23 using the Summative Alternate ELPAC Overall Performance Level (PL) of Fluent English Proficient, or PL 3, as the statewide standardized ELP criterion for reclassification beginning with the 2022–23 Summative Alternate ELPAC administration for kindergarten through grade twelve. Thus, for EL students who are administered the Summative Alternate ELPAC, LEAs shall use Overall PL 3 to satisfy reclassification Criterion 1. Updates reflecting the SBE’s approval of the Summative Alternative ELPAC PL 3 have also been posted to the CDE Reclassification web page. A tab for RFEP monitoring has also been added onto the web page. Please note that this is not new content, but a change to the page’s structure for easier access.

Reporting Students who Become Reclassified Fluent English Proficient During the Summer

For students who are redesignated to Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) after the student has been exited for the school year and for returning students, before they are enrolled in the next school year, LEAs should follow the guidance provided in Flash #219 for what English Language Acquisition Status (ELAS) start date to use for the RFEP status, to ensure that student is included in a school’s RFEP count. If an ELAS start date is submitted to CALPADS that is a date when the student is not enrolled in a school, the student will not be counted in any school RFEP counts.

2022–23 ELPAC Student Score Reports

Please remember that 2022-23 Student Score Reports (SSRs) received by an LEA after the 2022–23 instructional year ends must be provided to parents within the first 15 workdays of the 2023–24 instructional year. LEAs can combine the release of their SSRs with the required Annual Title I parent notification letter which must be provided within the first 30 calendar days of the new school year.

2023-24 ELPAC Info Guide

The updated 2023–24 ELPAC Information Guide is now available and includes the California State Board of Education approved guidelines for meeting criteria one for reclassifying students who take the Summative Alternate ELPAC. It also features an enhanced domain exemptions section providing greater context and scoring clarification, and an introduction to the newly created Alternate Assessment Decision Making Tool for California.

Pre-enrollment for Assessment before School Begins

In order to assess students with the Initial ELPAC or Alternate Initial ELPAC, students must have a CALPADS enrollment. This means that LEAs who choose to test students during the summer must “pre-enroll” students in CALPADS. Refer to Flash #219 and Flash #258 for more information, including the specific steps to take to pre-enroll a student and the benefits of summer testing.

Statewide Local Educational Agency Training and Certification

All local educational agency (LEA) ELPAC coordinators—new and experienced—are required to log on to the Administration and Scoring Training website and select the [Initial ELPAC Training Verification] button. This will provide a current list of staff within the LEA who have completed the LEA training requirement for the Initial ELPAC. This list includes the individual's name, date of completion, and title of the training completed. If your LEA has current staff on the verified list, the LEA ELPAC coordinator must certify the LEA completion status. Experienced LEA coordinators do not need to repeat the LEA certification course, only verify LEA certification. However, it is highly recommended that experienced LEA ELPAC coordinators watch the new 2023–24 Initial ELPAC: What's New video. If the LEA has a new ELPAC coordinator or lead trainer who has not been trained, the Initial ELPAC LEA Certification course must be completed. New LEA ELPAC coordinators and all test examiners can fulfill their training requirements by accessing the virtual training modules within Moodle. The LEA ELPAC coordinator, or a designee, is responsible for overseeing test examiners’ calibration progress and completion. For the Initial ELPAC, both new and experienced test examiners must calibrate annually and will be emailed a certificate of calibration upon successful completion. The Initial ELPAC Examiner Training and Calibration course has been updated with new student response videos.

CALPADS Updates

Reporting Students who Become Reclassified Fluent English Proficient During the Summer

Updated Language Code Set

Each year, the CDE receives requests from local educational agencies (LEAs) to add more languages to the CALPADS Language Code Set to better reflect the changing demographics of their students. To accommodate these requests, starting with the transition to the 2023−24 school year with the mid-September 2023 CALPADS rollover, CALPADS will shift from the current two-character language code set to a three-character language code set based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 639-2, along with additional specific language codes from ISO 639-3. The new CALPADS Language Code Set will offer over 400 additional language codes for LEAs to report the languages spoken by students and their families. On July 13, 2023, the CDE posted the FINAL CALPADS Language Code Set and a document that maps the old two-character codes to the new three-character codes, to the CALPADS Language Code Set 2023-24 folder, located within the CDE Box site in the CALPADS-LEA folder. The new language codes will also be included in the upcoming version of the CALPADS Code Sets (v15.x effective for 2023–24 Academic Year) which will be posted on the CALPADS System Documentation web page. The new CALPADS Language Code Set will be implemented as part of the school year rollover in mid-September 2023. The CDE has been working with the student information system (SIS) vendors on this change. Since student information systems vary, LEAs should consult with their vendor on how the new language codes will be made available in the SIS, and how the transition to the new three-character language codes impacts the language codes maintained in the SIS. Guidance for transitioning to the new code set, and information on any impacts to submitting, changing, and viewing language codes in CALPADS can be found in CALPADS Update Flash #256.

FPM Resources

Regional EL FPM Training and Resources

Please join us at the regional EL FPM (Federal Program Monitoring) Training, facilitated by an FPM reviewer from CDE on Tuesday, August 29, from 9am-12pm at the Contra Costa County Office of Education. There will be a customized presentation on focused aspects of the EL Instrument and time for questions, so please sign up to help us tailor the training to your needs. All LEAs in the region are invited to attend, especially LEAs that have been chosen and notified of their onsite or online FPM reviews this year.

Even if your district has not been selected for an FPM review, it is always a good idea to take time to review annually updated program instruments and resources, located in the CDE FPM resource folders to ensure that your LEA is following the most recent guidelines and requirements as a foundation to providing high-quality programs.

Another source of technical assistance and support for LEAs is provided through the Regional EL Specialists in California's 11 regions. For Bay Area Region 4, please reach out to Lilia Tsui at LTsui@cccoe.k12.ca.us with any questions or support you may need throughout your FPM review or any questions regarding programs and services for your English and multilingual learners.

Newcomer Toolkit

The US Department of Education has released the newly revised Newcomer Toolkit in June 2023. Some updates to the toolkit include:

- Definition of Newcomers: Newcomers are defined as K-12 students born outside the United States who have arrived in the country in the last three years and are still learning English.

- Parent and Family Engagement: Given ESEA requirements, the new OELA EL Family Toolkit, and OELA’s goal to focus on family engagement, the topic of family engagement is woven throughout each chapter.

- Remote Learning/Engagement: To ensure that newcomer students and families have the support they need during times of school interruptions and closures, the toolkit highlights remote instruction and family engagement considerations, and resources for ensuring equity.

- Expanded Resources: The toolkit includes an annotated bibliography for each chapter and over 100 hyperlinks to recent Federal, Department, and peer-referred resources to support newcomers, their families, and their educators.

State Seal of Biliteracy

A reminder that after all State Seals of Biliteracy (SSBs) have been awarded to students for the 2022-23 school year, an LEA can submit a corrective form to reflect the accurate number of seals awarded. To be included in the data for 2022-23, please submit all forms by 7/31/23. Be sure that the records of students who receive the SSB are updated in the LEAs student information systems and in CALPADS so that they can be reflected accurately in DataQuest/Dashboard and the published list on the CDE SSB webpage.

Similarly, participation forms for the Biliteracy Pathway Recognitions can be submitted online by 7/31/23 to be included in the published state data. Please see the program webpage for more information.

Secondary ELD Trainers Community of Practice

Region 4 MLLN would like to host a Community of Practice (CoP) for coaches and administrators that support Secondary ELD at their LEAs, especially participants that had attended the EL RISE! Integrated and Designated Secondary ELD Trainers professional learning sessions this past May. The CoP sessions aim to provide time and space for collaborative work and conversation, allowing participants to dive deeper into the content and learning segments, and provide a network of fellow coaches, TOSAs, and administrators to share ideas for supporting other educators in building knowledge around Secondary Integrated and Designated ELD. If you or your colleagues are interested, please fill out all questions on this Interest Form. Registration information will be sent out if there is sufficient interest to form this Community of Practice. If you would like to invite a colleague that did not attend the EL RISE! training, feel free to have them fill out the form and share the slides from the EL RISE! training with them.