Language and Cultural Education

Overview

Language and Cultural Education supports the development of well-rounded, educated, multilingual global citizens of all students, their families, educators, and staff. We capitalize on the proven power of language education to enhance students' cognitive abilities and to improve academic success among all students. By developing high levels of proficiency in English and an additional language while also fostering inter-cultural learning and a deep understanding of global issues affecting life in Chicago and around the world, the programs nurture academic excellence and global citizenship.

Goals

Language education is fundamental to holistic youth development and learning in the 21st century. Language education includes developing English proficiency among English Language Learners (ELLs), strengthening English skills among native English speakers, and developing proficiency in one or more languages among all students. We:

Provide support to all schools to ensure effective settings for academic, linguistic, socio-cultural, and civic development of young Chicagoans
Promote bilingualism, biliteracy, and multilingualism at the early grades and promote global citizenry for all students
Support schools with ELLs to ensure their academic success through high-quality native language instruction and the incremental development of English
Provide support to World Language programs to ensure effectiveness for all students

Current initiatives

In order to provide support and foster holistic youth development through language maintenance and acquisition, we are currently:

Updating the CPS policies and guidelines that frame bilingual education
Developing the addition of the critical languages (Arabic, Mandarin, and Russian) to elementary and high schools
Developing a Bilingual Achievement Academy for 8th graders who cannot graduate and over-aged 6th and 7th graders
Developing the inclusion of early childhood grades into the bilingual education program

Accomplishments

Since July 2007, we have accomplished the following:

Updated the promotion policy for English Language Learners;
Developed a Bilingual Education and World Language Commission that will make recommendations for the advancement of programs;
Realigned the staff allocations for bilingual education programs for all schools with programs;
Updated all bilingual education staff to the appropriate job code and profile in collaboration with Human Resources
Verified the Bilingual Special Education Service Models for approximately 1,100 special needs students across the district

Resources

We provide and support:

Approximately 575 state-funded teachers in bilingual education programs
283 Bilingual Advisory Committees across the district to advise the Local School Councils
Three Bilingual Parent Resource Centers (Perez, Roosevelt, and Tilden) and approximately 200 different workshops for parents across the district
40 different workshops for teachers that support the improvement of instruction of ELLs offered at the Resource Centers and local schools
Citywide Multilingual Parent Council which serves in an advisory capacity to the Chicago Public Schools on bilingual education and world language