Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Performance Monitoring Committee, Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 55m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1145044536?rel=0

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-12. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] All right. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. I'd like to call to order this December 9th meeting of the Performance Monitoring Committee. My name is Arben Estreffian. I'm the chair of this committee. I'm joined by Ms. Chernoff. And Chair Mansfield is not with us this evening. But we will, yeah, we will soldier on. Just want to make sure to see if we have any public comment for this evening. We do not have any public comment. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. So we'll move on to item three, and that is the approval of the draft of the meeting minutes from the November 18th meeting. Do I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes? Motion to approve

[00:00:37] the draft minutes for the November 18th, 2025 PMC meeting. Thank you. And I will go ahead and second that motion to approve the meeting minutes. Is there any discussion or edits to the meeting minutes? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor of approving the meeting minutes from November 18th please say aye. Aye. That motion will pass unanimously. Meeting minutes have been approved and we'll move on to our two information items for this evening. The first is 4.01 English Learner Achievement Data and I we have some familiar faces obviously with us

[00:01:15] appreciate you all being here. I will I guess pass it on to Dr. Ellis to do introductions. Sure I'm just going to briefly introduce Sharice Rosario, our Director of English Learner Programs, and Dr. Greg Mihalik. And they are here to tell you about all the great work happening in the English Learner office. And Dr. Mihalik will share how it has come to life in his school. And so we are grateful for you taking your time this evening to be here. And please, when the presentation is over, don't feel like you have to stay i know you've had a long day so i want to make sure school staff

[00:01:53] know that they are not interesting you're welcome to stay but you don't have to and i know i know we have a hard stop at seven this evening so just wanted to we do exactly so we'll just dive right in and mr rosario you can take it from here thank you good evening uh thank you for the opportunity to share information as it relates to the el achievement data next slide to start our conversation, here's a quick snapshot of our English learner population. As of November 30th, we serve about 11,000 EL students across elementary, middle, and high school. The data on this slide

[00:02:30] is organized by proficiency levels. From level one, least proficient in English, to level four, more proficient. Most of our students are in elementary with many at levels one and three, while middle and high schools show a strong presence at levels two and three.

[00:02:49] These levels represent different stages of language development, which guide how we target instruction and support. Understanding this distribution helps us plan effectively and ensure every learner gets what they need to succeed. But to us, these numbers aren't just data, similar to all students in LCPS.

[00:03:09] They represent students with dreams and potential. Our mission is clear, and that is to provide support and instruction that turns those dreams into a reality. This slide gives us a quick, encouraging look at how our English learners performed last year on the WIDA Access, Language Proficiency Assessment, both in terms of progress toward growth targets and overall proficiency.

[00:03:34] The VDOE's expected growth target for progress was 56%. LCPS achieved 55.61%. This is an increase from 53.9% last year, and a strong indicator that our instructional efforts are moving in the right direction.

[00:03:54] Proficiency rates are calculated by the number of students who score 4.4 or higher on their WIDA ACCESS assessments, demonstrating English proficiency similar to their grade-level English-speaking peers. While overall proficiency is not part of the VDOE School Performance and Support Framework, We still monitor it closely, and nearly 15% of our ELVs are reached proficiency last year.

[00:04:23] In addition to assessing overall student progress, we delve into specific subgroups to tailor our instructional support more effectively. This targeted approach ensures that the unique needs of each subgroup are addressed, enhancing overall educational outcomes.

[00:04:40] Languishing English learners are students whose English proficiency scores remain unchanged for three or more years. Of the total EL population, there are 869 students meeting this designation at the elementary level, with 438 in middle school and 639 in high school.

[00:05:03] Students who have been receiving EL services for six or more years are identified as long-term English learners, also known as LTELs. This designation begins in fifth grade for students identified EL in kindergarten. There are 414 LTELs in elementary which is 7% of the entire elementary population. Since only fifth graders are eligible to be designated LTEL we look specifically at our LTEL rates in fifth grade which is

[00:05:34] 55%. There are 1,041 long-term L's in middle school and 1,156 in high school. Dually identified students receive both special education and EL services simultaneously. There are 1,254 dually identified students in elementary, 550 in middle, and 507 in high school. I've hyperlinked data broken down by level for your review and as a reference, as well as provided you

[00:06:09] a hard copy that's in front of you. In addition to closely monitoring access progress for our English learners, we also track SOL pass rates to understand how students are performing across subjects.

[00:06:25] Looking at the spring 2025 results, LCPS English learners consistently outperform the state in reading, writing, history, and math, with history showing the strongest difference. 53 percent compared to 39 percent statewide.

[00:06:42] In science, our students match the state average at 31 percent, which gives us a clear opportunity to build on strengths and provide additional support. These results remind us that our efforts are making a difference, and while gaps remain, we are moving in the right direction.

[00:07:01] As we strive for continuous improvement, our focus has been on increasing progress and proficiency, ensuring every student has the tools to succeed. We provide research-based professional learning and ongoing support, empowering educators to grow in their practice.

[00:07:20] Through PDSA cycles, we embrace continuous improvement, using data to refine strategies and maximize impact. Most importantly, we are and continue to build the capacity of our teachers to foster language acquisition, creating classrooms where every learner feels confident and capable.

[00:07:42] We remain steadfast in our commitment to improving outcomes for every English learner. This means continuing to provide strong support, high-quality instruction, and opportunities that help students thrive. Every step we take moves us closer to ensuring that language is never a barrier to success.

[00:08:00] Together, we're building a future where every learner can reach their full potential. Here are a few examples of schools who participated in our professional development that resulted in access proficiency growth. I should also add that many of these schools also attended QTEL, in addition to EL foundations and ELD standards.

[00:08:20] Parkview High School proudly serves the highest English learner population in the county. Out of 1,257 students, 459 are English learners, 36.5% of their total population. And another 122 students are in monitor status.

[00:08:39] Nearly half of the school students have an EL background, creating a rich and diverse learning environment. Parkview has demonstrated remarkable growth in math SOL pass rates for ELs, increasing from 29% in 22-23 to 74% in 24-25.

[00:08:56] This success reflects a strong commitment to QTEL professional learning, including sending both math and EL teachers to a specialized math QTEL institute to strengthen collaboration and instructional practices. This is a powerful example of what happens when we align that professional learning to student needs, and we believe in the potential of every learner.

[00:09:18] And as a testament to our work supporting schools, I would love to introduce Dr. Greg Mahalik, principal of Sugarland Elementary, who's making great progress for English learners. Their math SOL pass rate rose from 43 to 55, a 12% increase.

[00:09:36] WIDA proficiency has grown from 8.85% in 2023 to 17.32% this past year. These gains show the power of strong professional learning and collaboration work between the Division of English Learners and a school. Dr. Mihalik, would you like to share some more?

[00:09:55] Our work supporting our EL students has been a really exciting journey, and it's really changed the way that we go about doing our daily instruction. It's been a combination of close collaboration between our classroom teachers and our EL teachers. In our school, we have four teachers in each grade level, 24 classroom teachers overall, and we have 10 EL teachers.

[00:10:15] And it's really being able to maximize their ability to collaborate and design lessons that increase engagement, applying the strategies such as the QTEL strategies, which we've sent many teachers to these trainings over the years. They go in pairs, and they learn ways to develop larger units and strategies to support students, but also skills called SOLOS, which are Structural Oral Language Opportunities, and that's ways to create conversation, engagement, and increase that language usage in your general lessons each day. And what's been great about it is you see both of the benefits. One of those is really focusing on the WIDA access performance. So what's

[00:10:52] great about it is that every child, kindergarten through fifth grade, if they're an English language learner, they qualify for EL service and they take that test. So each year we track them and our goal is to meet that progress that we want each year as they go across school.

[00:11:08] If they get in kindergarten, we want to see that progress and really, and they get in fourth and fifth grade, that opportunity to reach proficiency so they exit out of the EL program. And that's been a real big push for our school because when you look at the data, if children don't exit out of EL status after a certain number of years, in many cases they stagnate. So if students have not exited and they've been in our school since kindergarten and they get to middle school, the chances of them becoming proficient drop greatly. So you're really concentrating on that as a school each and every year, and it brings those classroom teachers together to incorporate these strategies so that the lessons are more engaging, they're talking about activities more, and it provides access to each and every student. So if a child

[00:11:46] does not have any background knowledge on the concept, or they don't have the vocabulary with them automatically, they have the sentence stems to know how to begin to talk. They are given the background knowledge, the visuals and things, to have some idea of what they're speaking about, and they're able to apply that content knowledge and engage with it in a deep way with the other students in their classroom.

[00:12:07] And by seeing both of that, our classroom teachers collaborating with our EL teachers, you'll see that progress, our students will be getting the proficiency on the WIDA test, but at the same time, there's more deep and meaningful growth in their content area assessments. So you're seeing that growth in math, and you're seeing that growth in reading.

[00:12:23] And you see that growth across all of our students. It's beneficial for deeper conversations, whether you're a student that's learned the language or not. And so we've been continuously doing this work with QTEL, and having a close collaboration with the EL office. Having, for example, the EL facilitators coming in and doing things during our staff meetings, having our teachers apply these strategies, and we go and visit them, and have teachers kind of share the things that they are doing.

[00:12:45] And then ongoing work and finding more and more ways to apply it across all constant areas to see that deeper success. And that's all we have for this evening, if you're happy to answer any questions. I know I've given you a lot of information and a lot of data.

[00:13:03] Thank you all very much. With that, we'll start off with any discussion. Thank you, Chair Streffi. I just really appreciate the work that's happening. I feel like we have cracked the code a little bit.

[00:13:22] Like, I feel like we're finding solutions. And, you know, Dr. Mihalik, I had the pleasure of visiting Sugar Land and hearing about this strategy firsthand. And I think we visited countless classrooms where you could really see the intentional talk that was happening and the teachers really facilitating and guiding that work.

[00:13:40] And then I would love, too, if you would speak to how that also, your commitment to that is not just in the general education classroom with ELs and co-teaching, but also, I'm putting you on the spot a little bit here, but I know you have a good answer, so don't worry. Don't sweat it. But you have also your STEM lab, and we were able to walk into there and then see that same intentionality around vocabulary and hands-on experience and talk.

[00:14:05] And I remember specifically saying, I see the Chromebooks are all stacked up in the corner of the room. I love this. And there's an intentionality there. So if you could just talk to us a little bit about how that work also integrates because the excitement and the learning that was happening at so many levels in that room was really palpable, and I think it would be awesome for the public to hear about it.

[00:14:28] - What's amazing about these strategies is they apply across all content areas. So, for example, in the STEM lab, being able to collaborate and work with a partner and being able to, let's say, kind of looking at the pictures of the phases of the moon and having an idea how to kind of start the discussion about those concepts and bringing in your own knowledge in those ways, too.

[00:14:48] So it enables the teachers, and a lot of it goes into the planning, So in order to implement these things, it takes that planning time of that classroom teacher, that STEM teacher, that EL teacher, of how do we design a lesson that no matter what your language level is and what your background knowledge is, you're able to be engaged. And that enables you at a variety of different academic levels to grow and improve and create that deeper meaning.

[00:15:10] And so what's wonderful about it is all the different activities that we do, whether it be in science or in the STEM lab, we're able to have those ways so students can see those concepts and see those visuals and utilize those words and apply them in a hands-on way and what's wonderful is we're able to see that even in our specialist activities for example our art teachers or music teachers they can apply these different types of strategies in hands-on way that obviously there's purpose for Chromebooks and there's purpose for doing some of those that screen time which is very valuable but we want to keep that kind of focus because it's so much more meaningful and it also brings that sense of belonging connectedness and it makes the lessons more engaging and exciting but it's structured in a way

[00:15:47] It strikes a kind of purposeful conversation. I think about, for example, even if you're in a meeting of principals in a given day, and you ask, okay, go find a partner and just talk. You'll spend a couple minutes trying to find a partner, and what are you going to talk about? If you already know who your partner is, you already know what you're going to talk about, you already know how to start the conversation, you already know what your goal is, which are all examples of these strategies, it makes it all just more efficient.

[00:16:10] And so it gives students confidence to speak and be engaged and know how to do it, and that it makes it more meaningful and focused on the content they want to learn. I just really appreciate that and the intentionality that you've taken with your staff and with the EL office and the partnership that you have there and the supports.

[00:16:28] Obviously, you, I believe, are Title I, so you have some additional staffing supports, which is really helpful. I was having this conversation with Dr. Spence today. We were actually talking about Parkview a little bit and reflecting on that experience. I also had the chance to go with Ms. Rosario and see Parkview and their commitment and just some of the skyrocketing scores that they're seeing.

[00:16:49] But it's really, it's more than the scores. It was really talking to the students and some of them saying, like, I never, ever thought I could pass an SOL. And now I'm telling my friends, like, we can pass advanced, you know. But it's that internal drive that we're seeing.

[00:17:06] And so definitely carrying forward from these numbers. I mean, I don't really need to speak to the numbers compared to the state. You guys have heard me talk about how I just think every learner deserves to be proficient. I think it's, you know, fine that we're above the state. That's great. But the celebration will be when we really just, we can do that here.

[00:17:26] I believe in that. I believe in the practices. I believe in the team. And I believe in supporting that however we can. But we can't do it without leaders who are intentionally partnering with the right experts at the table. and doing that work side by side for our kids.

[00:17:41] So I'm just, I'm blown away by these numbers, but I'm more blown away by the experiences that I've had in your building and in Parkview, shout out, and the other buildings that are what I'm calling crack the code because I think that we finally are figuring out what our English language learners need to be successful.

[00:17:58] And so let's put our money where our mouth is and get these supports in place. Amen and amen. Amen from me as well. I don't think I could have said it better than Ms. Chernoff. I think from my perspective, what I love most about this presentation is that you got through the data piece, and we understand where our concerns need to be, where our focus needs to be, but what we can celebrate and double down on.

[00:18:26] And I think for me, I mean, I got to visit Sterling Middle School most recently with Ms. Rosario and her team, and that was super exciting. I think this idea that, you know, you mentioned the dual identified students, so 20 to 25% across, I think, anywhere above elementary level, 20 to 25% of our English learners are also identified as special education.

[00:18:55] And that is a unique challenge as well. And I wanted to take a moment and create some space to, you know, just say that for students that might be having language issues that also have unique needs and abilities. And... It got me thinking when I was looking at the slides that I'm very curious because I was an English language learner, right?

[00:19:18] I couldn't speak English when I started my public school journey. And what does the, outside of the scoring and the way that we assess and build on that progress and growth, what does the experience look like and, or more importantly, feel like for these students?

[00:19:36] And I think that that is really getting to the heart of what you all are trying to do with the EL instruction. And what does that experience feel like in the classroom for a student? And what are you really trying to change?

[00:19:51] What's the delta that you are trying to change inside the classroom in the experience of each of those students? So having sat in that chair and really remembering I can draw from a lot of those feelings, I really, really want to thank you for the work that you're doing because you're getting really at the root of that.

[00:20:12] And I also wanted to highlight the professional learning piece of this a little bit more. I think Ms. Chernoff touched on it, but it's not just that the professional learning on the EL side is a big unlock for us.

[00:20:29] It really is, where we're able to take that and bring the teachers back in And really, and you've brought this point home to me multiple times, Mr. Rosario, around the fact that, as was mentioned, you know, EL practices and that training helps all students.

[00:20:48] So how do we take that, whether it's through our budget, whether it's through our, that understanding, how do we take that, whether it's through our budget or the resources that we have, and take that and double down on it? So there's that piece. And then the other part of the puzzle for me is, you know, the way that teachers are experiencing that training as well.

[00:21:10] So professional development, not all of it is equal. And so something seems to be working. And you mentioned that they're going in pairs and they're coming back to the same school. So they're experiencing the same exact, you know, they're experiencing that training together.

[00:21:25] So there's a lot, I think, that's worth talking about in terms of the experience or the type of professional development and the format of it and how they come back to the school and kind of then have somebody with them to be able to implement those practices or share those practices and collaborate with the school community.

[00:21:44] So just a few points that I wanted to mention. Any other discussions? I'll say, too, like, as more people get trained, and I know I've seen, you know, you're saying it's for all learners, and, you know, I think it's Belmont Station.

[00:22:00] Ms. Timothy is also doing similar kid talk moves and work where they, you know, made posters, and she was like, this is budget neutral, Ms. Chernoff. You should love this, you know. I was like, there are ways for this to spread without a budget necessarily. I am still committed to making sure that we support it in the budget.

[00:22:18] I'm not copping out, but I do think that that is a fair point is, you know, what are those ways that just naturally evoke progress for kids and just really healthy environments for kid talk. And I think we're, you know, we're, we're onto something now.

[00:22:34] And so I'm feeling really hopeful. I feel like a couple of years ago we were still like, we're just, we see little bits here and there, but to see these like big arrows and these big jumps, you know, where people's jaws drop because of the progress. I mean, we've just got to keep, we got to keep going. and at the same rate, if not faster.

[00:22:50] And, yeah, thank you. One last point, not 100% relevant to this conversation, but I think important is when we talk about students who are EL learners and duly identified, we have to also remember that we have situations in certain schools where we have long-term subs in some of those classrooms, right?

[00:23:20] and so we we're seeing growth in a specific area but perhaps maybe I'll offer that we're we're getting stuck in one place right where we're not able to fill those vacancies and the challenges of some of those students are very unique and the fact that we might have schools where you have a long-term sub and even the retention of a long-term sub there's just a lot of rotation and those students could be special education students and so that cycle you mentioned that if a student

[00:23:56] doesn't get caught up by a certain point from an English language perspective that that plateaus so just want to think about the most extreme or the most vulnerable the most extreme case or the most vulnerable students and then work our way backwards from that and see how we can kind of plug those you know gaps and if the solution some some solution has to be well is that is that really a pain point that's just an assumption that I have is that really a pain point and then if we can't find those those those folks then what else can we do knowing that they are our most vulnerable

[00:24:32] students of everyone in that category all right I just want to make one comment and I'm sorry I'm battling a cold here so I'm trying hard not to cough too much I just want to acknowledge what you shared regarding the duly identified students and just publicly state how closely our EL department is working with special education with regards to not only trainings in helping support each other's staff on on various trainings I'm thinking one off the top of my head autism 101 that our EL professional

[00:25:11] learning office offers but we did that through collaboration with the special education office to support those unique needs of our students and of course there are many unique needs but my point is the strength in the partnership so So that when the services are provided to students, it is done in that asset-based lens with building what the students can do to support their needs academically.

[00:25:33] So I just want to share that, yes, we recognize that that is a huge charge. But it is 100% on our radar, and we are constantly working with them in collaboration as well as through co-teaching models. So we are delivering professional development together.

[00:25:48] We're providing feedback together to our teachers. So I just want to acknowledge that you are right. that is a challenging, unique group of students that we need to pay attention to, and we're certainly working on that. - Thank you.

[00:26:04] Also, just an added benefit to these type of practices is that it's highly rewarding for teachers to be able to collaborate and co-teach. So when you're able to develop a lesson together and the EL teacher brings their expertise on these types of strategies like QTEL and solo strategies, and the classroom teacher with their content knowledge be able to work together and see the success, It makes the work more efficient, and also they're able to share in those celebrations and that success together.

[00:26:31] Our teens have become incredibly close-knit. I'm very proud we have very little turnover in my school because my teachers love their work. They work incredibly hard, but by working together using these strategies, it makes it more rewarding and successful in those ways, too. And also for students, in addition just to making it more engaging, it also promotes socialization for that child that comes, and they're learning the language, they know how to speak and connect, and they feel part of that classroom.

[00:26:56] fees and that idea of belonging that we're focusing on in so many ways. So it just brings a sense of joy to the classrooms. And also for our teachers, our EL teachers for many years have been very connected with their grade levels and those CLTs that they work on. But the past few years too, they're also excited about their separate EL CLT, which is two CLTs and somehow be excited about having two meetings a week and they love it. But because they see the benefits of both, like I'm a professional in terms of an EL teacher, but also I'm part of this team of on a grade level to support those students too so it just brings sharing of ideas and the partnership with the office has been exceptional to get those strategies

[00:27:32] and things too that's a wonderful point thank you very much with that should we move on yeah we'll go to thank you we'll go to 4.02 community engagement and I just want to say thank you again for that wonderful presentation.

[00:27:51] So family and community engagement, and I believe we'll pass it on to Ms. Dawson to do introductions. Ms. Dawson, thank you. So the Division of Family and Community Engagement in partnership with ELFACE is grateful to share an overview of our collective efforts to strengthen family and school partnerships across Loudoun County Public Schools.

[00:28:12] And I actually have a story about Sugar Land that I'll be telling about here shortly. Next slide, please. So why does FACE or family and community engagement matter? It is a key strategy for improving student success and strengthening our school communities. And this slide really highlights the four important impacts of the FACE work.

[00:28:32] First, we know, and data indicates, that strong partnerships between families and schools improve student outcomes. And when families are connected and engaged, students have better attendance, stronger achievement, and higher levels of motivation. Secondly, FACE helps expand access to learning.

[00:28:49] By connecting families to resources and programs and clear information, we support their ability to guide and encourage their students throughout the school year. Third, FACE promotes meaningful engagement with all families, whether it be through multilingual communication, inclusive outreach, and aligned community partnerships.

[00:29:06] This helps us reach families in ways that meet their needs and strengthen their connection to our schools. And the fourth element is FACE enhances the capacity of our educators to strengthen relationships with students and families, improving that sense of belonging.

[00:29:22] And these impacts reflect why FACE is a vital part of supporting every student and every family across LCPS. Next slide, please. And it's very exciting, the Division of FACE and ELFACE, how we work together. LCPS FACE and ELFACE work together to build welcoming and inclusive school communities by providing schools with practical tools and resources that strengthen family engagement and support student learning.

[00:29:49] We offer accessible multilingual opportunities that help families understand and reinforce academics at home. And our teams cultivate partnerships with businesses and faith groups, nonprofits, and volunteers to expand support for schools. And in addition, we assist families with accessing resources, navigating the school system, and advocating for their children.

[00:30:11] All of this work really reflects our shared commitment to creating strong family, school, and community connections that contribute ultimately to student success. Next slide, please. So you all, we have shared this slide with you. It's one of the ones that I'm really proud of and the work that Dr. Boyce has done with leading our family liaisons.

[00:30:33] So we know that in 2024-2025, liaisons supported between 3,000 and 4,000 families each month and between 4,000 and 5,000 students. And these numbers reflect consistent, sustained outreach and support.

[00:30:49] The data for this fall shows that same pattern. And in September, the liaisons served about 3,859 families, 4,910 students. And as you can see in our October, they supported 3,584 families and 4,782 students.

[00:31:08] Much of their work really focuses on helping families meet those essential needs. And liaisons provide assistance and referral for food and clothing, health care, housing, utilities, transportation, and hygiene items. And they distribute vouchers supplied by partners, such as the National Center for Children and Families, Galilee United Methodist Church, so that families can access free eye exams and glasses, winter clothing, and basic household items.

[00:31:36] They also coordinate the distribution of winter coats and school supplies through donations from community partners, such as the Knights of Columbus, the Dulles Clothing Closet, Loudoun Fire and Rescue, and the Broadlands Rotary. Our liaisons play a vital role in operating weekend backpack meal programs and in-school food pantries in partnership with the Loudoun Education Foundation and many local churches.

[00:32:00] And they frequently refer families to organizations such as Loudoun Hunger Relief, Women Giving Back, HealthWorks, Inova Cares, and Loudoun Literacy Council. And they also help our families apply for LCPS services, whether it's applying for free and reduced meals, McKinney-Fento supports, after-school programs, and fee waivers.

[00:32:21] It's a lot, as you can tell. Together, these efforts show how essential our family liaisons are to the well-being of our school communities. And they serve as trusted connectors who remove barriers, respond quickly to emerging needs, and ensure that families feel supported and equipped.

[00:32:38] Next slide, please. Multilingual services are another key component of FACE and are essential to ensuring that all families can fully participate in their child's education. LCPS provides both interpretation and translation supports to help families communicate with school staff in the language that they know best.

[00:33:00] Our families and staff can request an interpreter or written translation through their school's family liaison. In addition to our in-person and scheduled supports, we offer on-demand interpretation through two platforms. And these services really help ensure that language is never a barrier to understanding school information, attending meetings, or supporting student learning.

[00:33:22] Next slide, please. So this slide really illustrates the scope of the multilingual service requests across the division and how those needs continue to evolve. Each year, LCPS receives thousands of requests for written translation and spoken interpretation to ensure that our families can understand school communications and engage in important conversations about their child's education.

[00:33:48] In recent years, the division has also expanded the use of the virtual remote interpretation and language line, resulting in thousands of additional minutes of live on-demand interpretations for our families. And you can see the data shows that we regularly process around 2,000 written translation requests and nearly 4,000 spoken interpretation requests each year.

[00:34:09] And this does not include the extensive volume of virtual and phone interpretations. So, so far this year, you can see our interpretations written and spoken. And these numbers reflect our commitment to providing clear, accessible communication for all families so that they can partner effectively with schools and support their child's success.

[00:34:33] Next slide, please. So the Interfaith Luncheon United in Service. The Interfaith Luncheon was hosted for the first time by LCPS and the Division of Family and Community Engagement. This brought together more than 120 faith leaders, school staff, and community partners to strengthen and expand partnerships in service to students and families.

[00:34:56] And the event focused on really clarifying community needs, increasing access to supports, and creating structures for ongoing engagement. Participants heard keynotes that were aligned to the theme United in Service and shared a meal.

[00:35:12] The meal was fantastic and took part in table discussions that really elevated new ideas for collaboration. The luncheon also emphasized improving communication, recognizing the critical role that faith communities play, and expanding volunteer and service opportunities that directly support our schools.

[00:35:31] So photos in this slide show the keynote address by Dr. Spence, our school-based and administrative leaders engaging with our faith-based partners in meaningful conversations, and members of our FACE team welcoming attendees as we launched this important new event.

[00:35:48] it was a great success. Next slide, please. This was fantastic, I have to say. So Sarah and I did this together. The FACE teacher cohort is a powerful professional learning experience that equips our educators with practical research-informed strategies to strengthen family and community engagement in their schools. This year-long cohort brings together educators from across the division to learn collaboratively, deepen their understanding of effective family partnerships, and design capstone projects that directly support students and families.

[00:36:24] 100% of our participants reported that the sessions strengthened their ability to build strong, purposeful relationships with families, and each member is developing a capstone that is grounded in measurable outcomes for student and family impact.

[00:36:41] So during the Family and Community Engagement Month, our FACE team, so Sarah and I hit the road and we visited all of the schools for the teachers and educators in our cohort and one of those schools we popped in I'm not sure what you all were you were in the library doing an activity with all of the students was Sugar Land but we did this and we wanted to really celebrate the incredible work that these educators are leading we wanted to deliver resources and share ideas

[00:37:14] And this cohort really has created a supportive network of practitioners who are elevating engagement as a core part of student success, as it is. And our partnership with ELFACE continues to enrich the learning and impact of this work.

[00:37:32] And with that, I am thrilled and very excited to turn this presentation over to Sarah Ocampo to share about the incredible momentum with ELFACE team. Thank you, Ms. Dawson. Good evening, everyone. My name is Sarah Ocampo, and I'm the supervisor for the EL FACE office.

[00:37:50] I am honored to lead this amazing team of multilingual instructors who join me every day in providing equitable access and opportunities for EL families to become the champions and partners we need them to be to work towards student success and well-being. I just want to highlight that they're all intentionally chosen to represent the top languages in our district.

[00:38:09] So we have a Spanish-speaking facilitator, Arabic-speaking, Farsi, and Korean. Next slide. Our mission is in alignment with the LCPS mission, and we emphasize the importance of nurturing those partnerships and a sense of belonging between schools, families, and communities.

[00:38:26] Next slide. Our EL face office is dedicated to providing a variety of programs with the intention to bring information, seek feedback, deepen homeschool relationships, and celebrate each and every family for all the knowledge and expertise they bring to the educational journey of every child.

[00:38:43] We provide our programming, as I mentioned, in English, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, and Dari, and any other language upon request, with the assistance of our outreach office. I'll provide a brief overview of each of these programs in the following slides. So we'll start out with our Welcome to LCPS EL Family Workshop.

[00:39:03] A zap line in the instructional framework offering a welcoming and inclusive environment for new families and students is one of our top priorities. At the Welcome to LCPS EL Family Workshop, we offer a brief orientation once a month, about the U.S. school system and LCPS, and provide families with a printed toolkit where they can capture notes and information about their students' school, staff, go over the LCPS website and explore commonly used apps to continue monitoring their students' learning from home.

[00:39:32] The goal of the Welcome to LCPS EEL Family Workshop is to ease their transition from the Welcome Center to the start of their students' new school. It is one of their first stepping stones to familiarizing themselves with LCPS. Our target audience are newly arrived English learner families, and we offer these workshops in person during the fall and spring, and virtual options during the cold winter months.

[00:39:57] We also invite a small number of community organizations, such as Children's Science Center Lab, HealthWorks, Head Start and Step, Loudoun County Public Libraries, McKinney-Vento, ParentVUE, and Schoology. Our average monthly attendees range from 30 up to about 80 families.

[00:40:14] Last year, we hosted about 430 families. This year, we have hosted 160 families so far. The Division of English Learners provides pizza, snacks, and water for our families. But we also receive supplemental dinner donations by Ana Sula Community Kitchen.

[00:40:33] Next slide. The family room is a virtual space where multilingual families and staff come together to learn a variety of topics. We consider this our second stepping stone into families transition and ongoing support in LCPS. At the family room, families and staff come together and as I mentioned, we learn a variety of topics.

[00:40:53] We have talked about ParentVUE together for success with the collaboration of our Division of Face, Academies of Loudoun, and Navigating the Future and Postsecondary Pathways with our counseling office. We offer two concurrent sessions, English and Spanish and English and Arabic starting at 6:00 PM.

[00:41:12] And last year, we had about 1,900 families in attendance. This year, we've got almost 400, I'm sorry, 500 families up to date. Next slide. Family and student feedback circles are one of our school's administrators' favorite supports.

[00:41:29] My team and I facilitate small focus groups at various school sites. We gather the feedback, and we foster collaboration with the school community. The data gathered is analyzed and shared with the school-based leaders, which is then utilized in creating meaningful and goal-driven plans for their family engagement.

[00:41:47] This year, we're working with the schools listed on the slide. We're reaching about 126 families so far and 66 students up to date. The Parents' Educational Partners Program, or lovingly called PEP, is now a curriculum-based program for EL families to learn how to navigate the U.S. school system and LCPS.

[00:42:10] The curriculum is provided for our PEP instructors and translated into Spanish and Arabic. Last year, I'm sorry, when we first started in 2024-2025, we had about 25 schools with 4,800 attendees.

[00:42:26] This year, we have jumped to 38 schools, and we have reached nearly 2,200 attendees so far. Our ELFACE office supports our PEP instructors and our PEP schools through an annual and semi-annual PEP instructor training, professional development. We also conduct walkthroughs, and we offer coaching sessions for our PEP instructors to continue to enhance their program.

[00:42:48] We offer the curriculum and resources to build community with our families. Next slide. The Empowered EL Resource Fair and Family Conference is our biggest event of the year. In celebration of National Family Engagement Month, we collaborate with LCPS offices and community organizations to bring about a variety of community resources and also learning sessions where families can learn strategies on how to support their students in reading, math, PPIS, SEL, pathways to post-high school plans, and more.

[00:43:26] A number of our LCPS content offices and programs bring their resources to the fair, and they offer their expert learning sessions to our families. We couldn't do this without the support of our several offices, So I want to give recognition to our Division of Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility for working with us, the Office of Outreach, PBIS, SEL, Head Start, and STEP.

[00:43:48] It is definitely, it takes a village to bring this to life. To access all the presentation slides that we were able to translate in our top five languages, and to see more pictures, such as the cutie in the middle, you can visit www.lcps.org backslash ELFamilyConference.

[00:44:08] Next slide. And last but not least, our family support is enhanced through our strong partnerships with the community. As I mentioned before, Ana Suda Community Kitchen donates warm meals to the families attending PEP throughout our school district, our Welcome Workshop, and Family Feedback Circles.

[00:44:28] Additionally, the Children's Science Center Lab also supports the EL students attending our Welcome Workshop with their parents by engaging them in STEM-based activities while their parents engage with my team. They'll also be providing a field trip to their site in Fair Oaks Mall this Saturday, where we'll be bringing 50 families and students.

[00:44:48] Lastly, the National Museum of the American Latino in the Smithsonian has been working with us over the last three years, co-developing outreach efforts to support family literacy and increasing exposure to the museum by providing a field trip to Washington, D.C. in the spring. We're looking forward to continuing to collaborate with the Division of FACE and grow our outreach and engagement of our English learner family and community engagement in our district.

[00:45:13] And we don't just want to provide meaningful information. We want to make sure our families feel supported, and we also want to open those pathways for families to get more involved, build their leadership capacity, and strengthen crucial relationships with our school base. Thank you so much for inviting us.

[00:45:31] I'm not done taking notes. I know. We were both like, me, me, me, me, me. Oh, my God. Thank you so much. What you are all doing, there was six people on that one slide. Is that it? Is there some other?

[00:45:47] Okay. No, you mean your staff. No, your staff. That's it. My office has, yeah, five staff members and myself. So this is really amazing. One of the things that you guys have really keyed into from my perspective is that this idea of belonging that we keep talking about, It doesn't start in the classroom.

[00:46:10] It starts way before that. And so this is such critical work. And it seems like you guys have figured out every nook and cranny to take advantage of. So appreciate that. And then I was just going to say I can't wait for the Sterling Welcome Center to see what life you've got.

[00:46:25] You all will breathe into it all collectively. So very excited about that. And I got to attend the Interfaith Luncheon. That was a first, right? We never did that before. Yes, that was our first. That was incredible, like the stories and what some of the interfaith partners actually do and the level of commitment and how long they've been serving a particular school or multiple schools was amazing.

[00:46:52] And then the Empired EL Resource Fair, I got to put on the cape and say that, you know, I have another language as a superpower, and I see those flyers all over the schools, in Sterling specifically, so you guys have done a wonderful job with that. And supporting this thread around supporting family literacy, I think, is really amazing.

[00:47:18] And if we can further lock into that somehow, I think that would yield a lot of benefits. I think the only thing I think about, I don't have really any questions, the only thing I think about is engagement with families. And I think you guys have been very creative with that. But, you know, just thinking about a lot of the families that I represent, that's sometimes the challenge is how do you engage them?

[00:47:41] And I imagine, like, family liaisons are a lot of the driving force behind that beyond just generic communication. So, like, what specifically beyond the programming and the communications do you all see as critical to continue to try to engage these families? When we survey our families at our welcome workshop, the number one activity they enjoy is the community builder.

[00:48:05] And so we have used that data to then inform our curriculum of our PEP program to ensure that all of our instructors take the time to build community with our families. They come not just to receive information, but they want to come and feel like they belong. They want to come and feel like they left with you knowing a little bit of information about themselves.

[00:48:25] So I strongly encourage our schools to continue to build that sense of belonging and community with our families, to ask them questions, to get to know them, to seek their feedback so they feel and that they treat it like the true partners that they are. Thank you for the presentation. And we had the benefit of hearing a lot of this at the full board level. And so I had lots of positive comments and I stand by them. This is amazing. I love all that you do. I love the energy behind this work. I love

[00:49:00] the enthusiasm. My question is, when you have these family workshops and things, is it more about, like, what kinds of things arise from them in terms of questions? Is it more about how do I support my student at home? Is it more about how do I get my physical needs met? Is it more about mental health supports, medical needs? Like, when you have people coming into the, I mean, this is, i think on slide 12 like to see that many people show up at event is really extraordinary i mean it it may look small but that's not small like people got out of their routine and their home

[00:49:38] and their life and they came to do something to reach out to the school like that's a huge deal um so i'm just wondering like what are the things that are top of mind of these families at those sessions i will say we almost um how do i say this we call our families we invite them personally we send them emails so we we are purposeful and intentional about inviting them so we sure we have them so we we pursue them that's the word i was looking for but when they come to our workshop the goal is for them to understand the school system better we have an amazing team of family

[00:50:14] liaisons that are able to share resources get to know the family at a deeper level and connect them to the physical needs and the resources of the community the intention of our welcome workshop is more about what is LCPS? You perhaps come from a different country where you might not know who to contact.

[00:50:30] We had several families wanting to contact the principal for questions, and we said, well, your teacher is the fourth point of contact at the elementary level, and perhaps your counselor at the secondary level. So navigating the differences in culture is a big part of this welcome workshop.

[00:50:48] I would say offering a warm meal is also a great way to build that sense of community, And they don't have to worry about having dinner before coming in. We offer child care. We have the Children's Science Center lab engaging their students. So what comes out of these workshops is a hunger for more information.

[00:51:05] How do I then, you know, how do I keep track of my students' grading and assignments? And so it's continuing that learning through PEP at their school. I love that you're giving them access to that and helping them learn. I find that that's not specific just to, you know, families in need.

[00:51:24] It's families in general. It's part of the reason we did the student success talks last year, which I think were pretty successful, and I know you were able to promote your work through that. So for me, it's about finding ways to support the connectedness of this work and build deeper capacity and meaning, but I'm so appreciative of all that you do.

[00:51:42] Sarah, I know you're here too, and Ms. Boyce, sorry. I'm so informal, and I, you know, again, a plug for all our family liaisons who are just doing the beautiful work to support on so many levels so thank you for all you do I really, really, this is really important stuff, thank you I don't have anything else to add to what Ms. Chernoff said, thank you for all you do I just wish that we had like a division-wide multicultural night if we can do something like that I think some clusters do a cluster-wide one, but like a division-wide one would be epic planning some seeds anyway

[00:52:22] so thank you all very much this was a wonderful presentation I will have a look and it sounds like we don't have any other information items so we'll move on to new business if that's okay Dr. Ellis, are we good to move on I just wanted to take a moment to honor you Chair Streffy because without your idea two years ago at a random retreat in the middle of Brambleton I don't think we'd be sitting here And I'm really grateful.

[00:53:01] I'm really grateful for a place and space to talk and have data. And I want to wish you well in all your endeavors. And I just wanted to thank you for having that mind and that focus on the data and really giving us a place to collaborate and to learn more about staff and what you do and to bring in our schools to see the beautiful work that is happening.

[00:53:24] And that's because of you. And so I thank you for that. Thank you very much. Data and colors. thank you so much it has been such a privilege to uh be a part of this committee to be just a part of um creating it and chairing it um obviously um and i am so excited for all the things that this committee will do and the new board that will do and i feel like it makes sense for me to stay on this committee since i'm the one carrying over but i'm just to whoever's listening

[00:53:56] and excited about what it will continue to evolve into as well right so very excited so thank you so much and this is my last standing committee I think oh my gosh but it's okay this is going to be great thank you all for all of the work that you do whether you're part of this committee or contributing in some other way it has been so amazing to be in the schools with you and just to see how you live and breathe all of this stuff on a daily basis.

[00:54:28] And you have no need to recharge, even though you probably do. But it doesn't look like it. It's just this is what you live for. And that has been my experience over the last two years serving is I got to just, you know, be a part of what you all do on a daily basis and promote it and support it.

[00:54:46] So thank you so much. Really appreciate it. With that, if there's no other new business. I wasn't really busy. No, no, I just was saying it was a business, but I wanted to say it. Thank you so much, Ms. Chernoff. I appreciate that. So with that, we'll now adjourn this December 9th meeting of the Performance Monitoring Committee.

[00:55:08] Thank you all very much.

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