HB 1139

Abstract

Board of Education; Regulations Governing Educational Services for Gifted Students; comprehensive review. Requires the Board of Education, as part of its current comprehensive review of its Regulations Governing Educational Services for Gifted Students, to consider revisions to (i) the process of screening and identifying students for eligibility for gifted and talented programs and referring students to such programs to improve the identification of student populations that are underrepresented in such programs, including economically disadvantaged students, English language learner students, and students with disabilities and (ii) the data collection requirements of the annual report required by such regulations to better inform equitable screening and identification for and access to gifted and talented programs for student populations that are underrepresented in such programs.

English language learner students; guidance, information,programs, and policies. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instructionto (i) develop guidance for school boards to improve the process for theidentification of English language learner students for eligibility for giftedand talented programs and address the underrepresentation of such students insuch programs that includes methods for recognizing and addressing potentialchallenges in such process and facilitating professional development for andcollaboration among the teachers involved in such process, including teachersin English language learner programs and teachers in gifted and talentedprograms; (ii) encourage any school board of a local school division in whichEnglish language learner students struggle to achieve at a high level toprioritize the utilization of the state funds available to the school board toimprove such levels of achievement; and (iii) in consultation with experts whopossess knowledge and experience in assessing the language proficiency andacademic performance of English language learner students, annually collect andreport data on the English proficiency level, program placement, and academiclanguage development, including oral academic language, of each Englishlanguage learner student and appropriate and effective measures for improvingassessments for and the English proficiency of English language learnerstudents. The bill requires the school board in any school division in which 20or more English language learner students in one language classification areenrolled at any grade level in kindergarten through grade five, to provide aone-way or two-way dual language immersion program or early exit or late exittransitional bilingual program for such students, as such programs are definedby the Board of Education pursuant to regulation. The bill requires each schoolboard to provide a content-based or pull-out English as a second languageprogram, as such programs are defined by the Board of Education pursuant toregulation, for all other enrolled English language learner students. The billrequires each school board to adopt policies to (a) support oral and writtencommunication between school board employees and the parents of each enrolledstudent in such parents' native language; (b) pursue community support toaccelerate the literacy and achievement of English language learner students;(c) conduct school satisfaction surveys in the native language of each surveyedindividual, when practicable; and (d) ensure that literacy strategies sent tothe parents of enrolled English language learner students who read below gradelevel are tailored to promote reading proficiency in English and the student'snative language. The bill also requires any Head Start program offered in theCommonwealth to provide the parents of English language learner students withoral and written information to monitor the program's impact on theirchildren's English and native language proficiency and development.