Bellingham Public Schools is highly committed to ensuring an equal educational opportunity for every student. While English is the basic language of instruction in the district’s schools, the district will provide a transitional bilingual instruction program for children whose primary language is not English and whose English skills are sufficiently deficient or absent to impair learning. The district鈥檚 transitional bilingual instruction program is designed to enable students to achieve competency in English. The superintendent will approve the district鈥檚 transitional bilingual instruction program.
The district and its staff will:
A. Communicate, whenever feasible, with parents/guardians of English language learners in a language they can understand;
B. Assess and determine, by means of a state approved placement test, student eligibility within 10 days of enrollment and attendance;
C. Annually assess, by means of the state approved test, improvement in English language proficiency for each eligible English language learner;
D. Provide professional development training for administrators, teachers, counselors and other staff on the district鈥檚 bilingual instruction program, appropriate use of instructional strategies and assessment results, and curriculum and instructional materials for use with culturally and linguistically diverse students; and
E. Provide for continuous improvement and evaluation of the district鈥檚 program to determine its effectiveness.
For purposes of providing such services, the superintendent will establish procedures for implementing the district鈥檚 Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program.
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Chapter 28A.180 RCW Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program WAC 162-28-040, English Language Limitations and National Origin Discrimination Chapter 392-160 WAC, Special Service Program – Transitional Bilingual
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