Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Live reporting - Foreign Language Update

2. Guests/Presentations
c. Foreign Language Update – Michele Kingsland-Smith,  Kristy Yankee (Director of Foreign Languages)

The full report being presented and discussed is here:

ForeignLanguage_Report2SchCom_20100914



2010-2011 first year not running a language program in the middle schools
primarily due to the unfunded mandate from the State on the bullying requirements
developed the health program to include the bullying initiatives
switched the 3.8 teachers in the middle school from language to health

Issue with the cutting of Latin due to the trouble finding qualified teachers
9 Latin teachers came and went

At the High School
AP French is back after two years without being offered
AP scores have been stable, hovering around 3
last year, the Spanish scores improved to 3.75

French and Spanish saw updated curriculum at the high school
Developed a scope and sequence for the middle school Spanish program during August

Participated in the presentation from Rosetta Stone
ranging from $100/student to approx. $50,000 for the district as a whole
survey underway to assess desire for a Latin Club possibly to use this program

34 high performing districts were identified across MA
data was updated to include the Hockomock league school districts

From the report:

According to the 2010 DESE data: 
 None of the 41* districts currently offer an elementary program. 
 22 districts eliminated their middle school program since 2008; Decrease of 35.3%. 
 Spanish and French are still the predominant languages offered at the middle level (9 of 12 districts). Latin is offered in 6 of 12 middle schools. Chinese is offered in 1 district.
 The number of middle school programs offering two or more language studies was decreased by 30.7%, from 26 districts in 2008 to 8 districts in 2010.
 90.2% of the districts offer French, Spanish and Latin at the high school level (37 districts); Increase of 13.8%. 
 The number of districts offering four or more language studies at the high school remains stable: 16 districts (39%) vs. 13 districts (38.2%) in 2008. 
 The average 2010 FTE per predominant language: 
o Chinese - 0.86 FTE, 11 districts 
o French - 1.98 FTE, 35 districts 
o Spanish - 4.06 FTE, 40 districts 
o Latin -1.22 FTE, 24 district


Cafasso - one of the best, most comprehensive report I have seen in my years here, thanks for the effort that went into this. To be able to go back and read this to see what had been happening. If foreign language were an MCAS subject, then perhaps we wouldn't be seeing this.

Sabolinski - we do firmly believe in foreign language, if there is an influx of cash we would restore these program to the elementary and middle schools

Trahan - great job, it will be good for the community to read and review

Mullen - Did I read that level 2 could be offered at Freshman
Sabolinski - it could be, the Charter School is one of our feeder schools with strong French students

Kingsland-Smith - we have had issues with personnel so if we can get the right folks we can do what we would like

Rohrbach - unfortunately our reductions are on pare with what other communities are doing across the state

Cafasso - what are the requirements for elementary, middle and high school?

Kingsland-Smith - content degree in the Classics as well as subject certification in each language

Sabolinksi - We do that, BU is one where we go directly on campus. We go to PC, they have a classic program. BC, Brown.

You can know the subject matter but if you don't know how to reach out to the students, they that doesn't help

HM - 59, AS - 17, Remington - 26
the numbers will change depend upon the day chosen, could it be scheduled at each middle school on different days? to offer the students an option, clearly dependent upon the parent or other transportation provided.

Sabolinski - DESE on a conference call confirmed that there is a trend in finding less qualified foreign language teachers


Franklin, MA

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