What Does It Actually Take to Teach a Student English?

Leigh Cavalier, Sonoma Schools Alliance | March 31, 2026

Last night, Sonoma Valley Unified School District held a study session on multilingual learners, the students in our district whose first language is not English. It was an informative evening, and the district staff who presented deserve real credit for the depth and care they bring to this work. Here is what we learned, and why it matters for every family in this community.

Who Are We Talking About?

26% of SVUSD students are multilingual learners. While the majority are Latino, our district also has students from: Nepal, Japan and Ethiopia as well [Please forgive me if I am forgetting any other student's country of origin]. These are children who arrived in our classrooms speaking little or no English, many of them navigating not just a new language but a new country, a new school system, and in some cases, the aftermath of trauma or displacement. They are a significant and vital part of our school community.

How the District Supports These Students

When a new student enrolls in SVUSD speaking no English, the process begins before they ever set foot in a classroom. District staff interview both the student and family to understand their background and circumstances. That context matters, because every child's path is different. The student is then given the ELPAC, California's official English Language Proficiency Assessment, to establish a baseline.

From there, students are supported through one of two programs. For grades K through 5, the program is called SEAL, which stands for Sobrato Early Academic Language. For middle school through high school, the program is called Elevation. Both programs work the same way: they give teachers a structured toolbox of strategies to deliver curriculum in multiple ways, through listening, speaking, reading, and writing, so that each child can access the material in the way that works best for them.

This is not about slowing down the curriculum or separating kids from their classmates. The standards are the same for everyone. What changes is how the teacher reaches each child. Teachers receive ongoing training and meet regularly to share what is working and what is not, a built-in culture of reflection and improvement.

On average, English learners have only 90 “SECONDS” per day of active engagement with the English language. District staff identified this as an area that needs more work.

The Road to Proficiency

Progress is measured through a tiered step-up system. Students move through three levels, advancing when they demonstrate proficiency on annual ELPAC testing, administered each year between February and May. Advancement is not automatic, and it is not subjective. There are established benchmarks that must be met. Students are also monitored continuously throughout the year, not just at testing time.

Here is where the statewide data tells an important story. Approximately 53% of English learners who start kindergarten are reclassified as proficient by the end of 5th grade. By 12th grade, that number rises to approximately 73%. That means roughly one in four students who began school as English learners does not reach full reclassification before graduating. Language acquisition takes time, an average of six years, and it does not happen on a fixed schedule for any child.

It Is More Complicated Than a Test Score

One of the clearest themes of the evening was this: you cannot evaluate a child's progress, or a teacher's effectiveness, through a single data point. District staff were consistent on this.

Assessment draws on homework, classroom participation, curriculum mastery, and formal testing together. A student's score on any given test is one piece of a much larger picture.

Many of these students come from circumstances involving poverty, trauma, or displacement. Those realities affect learning. The district takes them into account. That is not making excuses, that is good teaching.

What We Observed at the Board Table

Several board members asked questions that suggested they are still getting up to speed on how these programs work. Some appeared to be looking for a single metric to measure everything at once. District staff patiently explained, more than once, why that approach does not reflect how learning actually works.

Trustee Landry asked whether the test itself might be the problem. Trustee Ching suggested that reclassification might be subjective, which district staff corrected, it is not. Ching also proposed consolidating all new English learners into a single school for efficiency, a suggestion that raises real equity and legal concerns. Board President Bell returned to the same questions about testing multiple times over the course of the evening.

Trustee Guzman offered a useful observation: the population of newly arrived immigrant students in a given year affects scores, and that context matters when comparing data across schools.

The Good News

The district staff who presented last night clearly know this work deeply. Christina Casillas, Amber Williams, Troy Knox, and Liz Nuscum, along with Michelle Quinonez and Superintendent Jason Sutter, demonstrated a thorough and thoughtful approach to one of the most complex challenges in public education. The Summer Bridge program is meeting demand and providing a genuinely engaging learning environment for students over the break, which is especially important for English learners who can lose ground without that continuity.

District staff closed the evening on an encouraging note. Language acquisition is an evolving science. New research and new methods continue to emerge at the state and national level, and SVUSD is committed to staying current, reflecting on what is working, and refining their programs accordingly.

Stay Informed, Stay Engaged

These students, 26% of SVUSD enrollment, deserve a board that understands the programs serving them, asks informed questions, and makes decisions with their wellbeing in mind. The study session was a good first step. What comes next, in terms of board decisions, budget priorities, and staffing, will be the real test.

Sonoma Schools Alliance will keep watching, attending, and reporting back. If you want to stay informed, visit us at sonomaschoolsalliance.org. Our schools are only as strong as the community paying attention to them.

Sonoma Schools Alliance | sonomaschoolsalliance.org | contact@sonomaschoolsalliance.org