LYNN — As the school district’s English language learner enrollment continues to increase, it is constantly adapting to meet the needs of this student population.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler said there is “creative and cutting-edge” work happening in the district to keep this at-risk group of students in school.
For the past decade, Tutwiler said the district has seen a significant increase in the amount of enrolled students who qualify as English learners. Thirty-eight percent of the Lynn Public Schools (LPS) student body is classified as an English learner, he said.
“I have often declared a good school district as one whose core values are known and whose actions reflect those core values,” said Tutwiler. “Another key quality is the district’s ability to change with the community it serves. This is happening in the realm of servicing English learners’ needs.”
Tutwiler said this shift in the district’s approach has started to pay off. He cited an increased graduation rate among English language learners (ELLs), which has been on the rise for four consecutive years.
Four years ago, the district launched a major shift in programming at the secondary level to better meet the needs of these students, Tutwiler said.
This has included the introduction of thematic instruction; the incorporation of English as a second language (ESL) instruction in students’ schedules; an intentional focus on scheduling qualified and experienced educators with the the district’s most underserved students; and the formation of a year-long “push-out committee,” which has focused on ways to support ELLs to keep them in school, Tutwiler said.
“We still have much work to do, and we are not resting on these gains,” he said. “The point here is to name the shifts we are making and to accommodate who we serve and acknowledge the hard work and expertise behind these shifts.”
While the ELL graduation data is trending in a positive direction, this group of students continues to drop out at a high rate. The ELL dropout rate was 71.6 percent for the 2020-21 school year, compared to a dropout rate of 18 percent among regular-education students, according to district data.
Tutwiler said the district is taking further steps to address this group of students.
He highlighted a $299,000 state grant that has been awarded to the English Learner Education Department, which will go toward supporting a “grow your own” model for dual-language programming and enhancing multilingual libraries in these classrooms. Among districts that received these grants, Lynn was awarded the highest amount of funding, he said.
The Lynn school district has also received national recognition for its work with English learners. Rania Caldwell, executive director of English Learner Education, has been selected to serve as a Northeast representative for the national World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA), Local Education Agency Advisory Committee, Tutwiler said.
Caldwell is one of two Northeast representatives for the committee, which includes two representatives from each region — Northeast, South, Midwest and West — who serve for a two-year term. Caldwell will serve in an advisory capacity, weighing in on the WIDA tools that will be used across the nation, Tutwiler said.
“In addition to this being a real testament to the expertise that we have right here in LPS, this is a unique opportunity to gain insight to tools that can be used to support LPS students,” said Tutwiler.
