We are excited to share that, effective immediately, the English Language Acquisition (ELA) Department will become the Multilingual Education Department (MLE), which will continue to be led by Nadia Madan Morrow. As part of this transition, World Languages will join the MLE Department, and all team members will retain their current position. Similar to the creation of the Culturally Sustaining Curriculum and Instruction (CSCI) Department, this move is incredibly important for us to realize our vision of becoming an Equity school district, and our collective commitment to prioritize culturally and linguistically responsive education in DPS. It is important that we continue to build on the work that has already been established as we strive towards our goal of every DPS student graduating bilingual and biliterate. And, in alignment with the Black Excellence Resolution, this move will allow us to increase access to language instruction for our Black and Indigenous students, who are underrepresented in rigorous courses and in our Seal of the Biliteracy graduates.
The new Multilingual Education Department more accurately represents who we are as a district and who we strive to be. Our focus will be on the asset of being a multilingual and linguistically diverse student, instead of focusing solely on acquiring English. While we will continue to work to ensure that our students become English proficient, we will enthusiastically celebrate their native languages and cultures. We recognize the unique stories and voices of our multilingual students and honor them by calling them Multilingual Learners (MLLs). We believe that developing home language skills help students stay connected with their family, culture and community. We support our students in further developing their native language proficiency both at school and at home, and honor this through the Seal of Biliteracy.
In alignment with DPS’ vision, our team’s vision is to ensure every Multilingual Learner succeeds by providing the opportunity to achieve the knowledge and skills necessary to become contributing citizens in our diverse society. We believe that every single Multilingual Learner can thrive — not by accident, but by design.