English Language Acquisition

English Learners (ELs)/Multilingual Learners (MLs)

Supporting high quality instruction designed to serve linguistically and culturally diverse students

All students deserve equitable access to education. Federal law requires schools to identify English learners and provide them with language instruction to ensure “a meaningful opportunity to participate in educational programs.” The Title III grant program supports school districts in creating high-quality language programs, so ELs can become proficient in English and meet challenging state academic standards.

WIDA Mission, Vision, and Values

Forms

WIDA has put together a survey, a collection of questions, to be completed by parents or guardians of students to help understand their language usage

Program Manuals

Federal Guidance

Title III Grant Information

Emergency Immigrant Information

A Beginner's Guide to Teaching English Language Learners

Classroom Differentiation (Modifications and Accommodations) Ideas

Go-To Strategies for ELs

EL Language Transfer Supports

Science of Reading and Multilingual Learners Articles from WIDA

Answering Your Questions: Multilingual Learners and Literacy

What Works Clearinghouse-Institute of Education Sciences

  • They research educational practices and create recommendations based on evidence to improve student outcomes

WIDA-Tell Us About Your Child Survey (TUAYCS)

The WIDA Tell Us About Your Children Survey is a collection of questions, to be completed by parents or guardians of students to help understand their language usage

Summer Institute 2025 HLS and EL Strategies/Resources Presentation Slides

Seal of Biliteracy

Information from the Seal of Biliteracy Board of Education:

OPI Modules of Guidance

Montana Educator Spotlight

A Beginner's Guide to Teaching English Language Learners

Science of Reading and Multilingual Learners Articles from WIDA

Answering Your Questions: Multilingual Learners and Literacy

WIDA Article: Four Tips for Teaching Reading in Content Areas

What Works Clearinghouse-Institute of Education Sciences

  • They research educational practices and create recommendations based on evidence to improve student outcomes

WIDA-Tell Us About Your Child Survey (TUAYCS)

The WIDA Tell Us About Your Children survey is a collection of questions, to be completed by parents or guardians of students to help understand their language usage

Resources for General Education Teachers

Creating a Language Instruction Educational Plan (LIEP)

MELIN (Montana English Learner Instructional Network): EL coordinators helping each other

  • Learn from your Montana colleagues in monthly meetings! Or sign-up to stay informed!
  • Email Serena Wright to join the email list.
  • 2025-26 MELIN meeting dates, Wednesdays from 12pm-1pm
    • September 24th
    • October 22nd Canceled
    • November 12th
    • January 14th
    • February 18th
    • March 18th (tentative due to spring breaks)
    • April 15th
    • May 13th

New WIDA Self-paced eWorkshops for Teachers

  • 2026 WIDA eWorkshops available until Aug. 31, 2026
  • Get Renewal Units For eWorkshops! Email Serena Wright for your certificate of completion

Summer Institute Sessions

2026 Sessions

These will be announced closer to June

2025 Sessions

2026 WIDA Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO September 15-18, 2026

  • Registration opens Spring of 2026

National ESEA Conference, Denver, CO February 10-12, 2026

  • In-Person and Virtual (Access to Full conference and recordings!)
  • All Federal Programs
  • Offer a variety of sessions. Check out the schedule!

Home Language Survey

Welcoming Families

  • Welcoming Families - First Steps video (New 2/2025)
    • This video details how important a family's first impression or feelings are when entering a school to enroll their child(ren).
    • Tips and ideas on how to make the student feel comfortable are included
    • This video is primarily for Newcomer families, but it also valid for any multilingual family

Cultural Awareness

  • Cultural Awareness - Practices video (New 2/2025)
    • This video includes culturally responsive teaching practices and ideas for all staff
    • Mostly towards Newcomer students, but includes best practices for all EL students
    • Lesson ideas - Importance of our names
    • Ideas for preparing a welcoming classroom
    • There is also information regarding the Stages of Cultural Accommodation

Family Engagement

Newcomers

  • Newcomers, First 30 Days, Part 1 video (New 4/2025)
    • This video will lead you through the first interactions with newcomer students and their families
    • A great resource for all staff to watch

School Resources

Family Resources

Resources for Learning English for the Family

 

 

Family and Community Engagement (FACE)

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), each outline requirements for effective parent and family engagement strategies designed to help families support the educational success of their students. Specifically, these provisions stress shared accountability between schools and families for high student achievement, collaborative development of family engagement plans with sufficient flexibility to address local needs, and programs that build a family’s capacity for using effective practices to improve their own student’s academic achievement. When schools collaborate with families to help their children learn, and when families participate in school activities and decision-making about their student’s education, students achieve at higher levels.

Montana Family Engagement Standards

Montana Parent and Family Engagement Resources

Families actively participate in the life of the school and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class.

Families of English Learners

  • English Learner Family Toolkit – A resource from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition
  • Webinars for EL families from WIDA
  • WIDA Focus on Family Engagement
  • WIDA – ABCs of Family Engagement: Key Considerations for Building Relationships with Families and Strengthening Family Engagement Practices

Families and school staff engage in regular, two-way meaningful communication about student learning.

Families and school staff continuously collaborate to support student learning and healthy development both at home and at school and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge and skills to do so effectively.

Families are empowered to be advocates for their own and other children, to ensure that students are treated equitably and have access to learning opportunities that will support their success.

Under section 1001 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA), the purpose of the Title I, Part A program (Title I, Part A) is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education as well as to close educational achievement gaps. The Title I, Part A parent and family engagement requirements in ESEA section 1116 support this critical purpose.

Parent and family engagement always has been a centerpiece of Title I, Part A. The statute defines “parental involvement” as the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring—

  • that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
  • that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
  • that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; and
  • that carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1116 of the ESEA (Parent and Family Engagement). (ESEA section 8101(39)).

Title I, Part A Parent and Family Engagement Flowchart -- THIS LINK NEEDS UPDATING

Title I, Part A District Parent and Family Engagement Policy AND School Parent and Family Engagement Plan Components Checklist

Title I, Part A Parent and Family Engagement Written Policy

All school districts receiving Title I funds are required under Section 1116(a)(2) of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to develop a written Parent and Family Engagement Policy for the school district. ESSA states that the District Parent and Family Engagement Policy must be jointly developed with parents, incorporated into both the Title I, Part A LEA Plan and Title I, Part A Parent and Family Engagement Plan, and distributed to parents of participating children in a format and language parents can understand.

LEAs are required to conduct, with meaningful involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation distinct from the required Title I, Part A Annual Meeting and recommended at the end of the School Year (SY), of the content and effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy in improving the academic quality of all schools served under Title I, Part A including identifying:

  • barriers to greater participation by parents in Title I, Part A activities.
  • The needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children, including engaging with school personnel and teachers.
  • Strategies to support successful school and family interactions.

Title I, Part A School Parent and Family Engagement Plan/Policy

Title I, Part A School Parent and Family Engagement School Plan/Policy Required Components

Title I, Part A Parent & Family Engagement Plan/Policy (Template)

ESEA requires schools to develop their own parent and family engagement policies and disseminate them to parents. These policies should be aligned to the district's parent and family engagement policy, but they should be distinct and facilitate building-level parental engagement. The plan is made available to the local community and is updated periodically. 1116(a)

  • Title I-A schools must develop and share written Parent and Family Engagement School Plans/Policies
  • Schools must involve parents in creating the plan/policy
  • Schools must disseminate the plan/policy
  • Annual evaluation recommended at the end of the SY

Title I, Part A Annual Meeting

Each year, recommended at the beginning of the SY, schools served by Title I, Part A programs are required to host a meeting for parents to explain what the Title I, Part A program is and how parents can become involved in the Title I, Part A program. This is different from the annual evaluation districts are required to conduct with parents and family members of children served by Title I, Part A programs. A school district may hold a meeting for parents and family members to review and improve the content and effectiveness of the Title I school district policy. 1116(c)

The following issues must be addressed at the Title I, Part A Annual Meeting:

  • Inform parents of their school’s participation in Title I, Part A
  • Explain Title I, Part A requirements.
  • Explain what participation in Title I, Part A means, including:
    • a description and explanation of the school’s curriculum.
    • information on the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress; and
    • information on the achievement levels of state academic standards that students are expected to meet.
  • Explain the district Parent and Family Engagement Policy, School Parent and Family Engagement Plan/Policy, and School-Parent Compact.
  • Explain how parents and family members can be involved in planning, reviewing, and improving the school and district Title I, Part A policies, and the Title I, Part A Plan.
  • Explain that parents have the right to request regular meetings with school staff to offer suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions about the education of their children. The school must respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible.

To keep parents informed, schools must invite all parents of children participating in Title I Part A programs and encourage them to attend. In a Schoolwide program, this means ALL parents should be invited; in a Targeted Assistance program, just those parents with children participating in Title I, Part A should be invited.

Schools should be able to document the annual parent meeting with minutes, agendas, sign-in sheets, etc.

School-Parent Compact

Each Title I-A school shall jointly develop with parents a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the entire staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help students achieve the state’s high academic standards. Each school distributes compacts to parents and families annually 1116 (d). Elementary schools must distribute compacts at a parent teacher conference and explain how they relate to the child’s individual achievement. 1116 (d)(2)(A).

The Compact is used to create a partnership between the school, teachers, and parents to help attain better student achievement. The Compact is signed by teachers, parents, and the student when appropriate. The compact should:

describe the school’s responsibility

  • describe the parents’ responsibility
  • describe the student’s responsibility if desired
  • address importance of communication between teachers and parents through:
    • at least an annual parent-teacher conference in elementary schools that includes discussion about how the compact relates to individual achievement
    • frequent reports to parents on their children’s progress
    • reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer, and observe classroom activities

Information to Parents of Children Participating in Title I, Part A Programs

Schools served under Title I, Part A must provide parents of participating children, in a timely manner, information about the programs funded by Title I, Part A. ESEA Section 1116(c)(4)(A). That information must include:

  1. A description and explanation of the school's curriculum;
  2. Information on the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress; and
  3. The achievement levels of the challenging state academic standards.

ESEA Section 1116(c)(4)(B).

If requested by parents, schools must provide opportunities for regular meetings for parents to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions about the education of their children. The school must respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible. ESEA Section 1116(c)(1); ESEA Section 1116(c)(2), and ESEA Section 1116(c)(4).

Building Capacity for Parent & Family Inolvement

Each school shall carry out activities and strategies that are aligned with the LEA’s parent and family engagement policy which help to build the capacity of Title I parents and families for meaningful engagement in their child’s education. 1116(e). Building capacity for parent and family involvement is the effort that both the school and district provide to allow time, space, information, training and other supporting functions that allow Parental Involvement to grow and become more effective throughout the school year. If parents need support and/or training to be able to participate in their students’ academic growth, then the term “Building Capacity” may include Literacy Training, as well as training in the use of technology.

To ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and community, the school and district:

  • will provide assistance to parents in understanding the state academic content standards, state and local academic assessments, state student academic achievement standards, and how to monitor a child’s progress and work with educators to improve achievement
  • will provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improvement achievement:
    • literacy training
    • using technology
  • will educate all staff with the assistance of parents, in the value of family engagement and:
    • how to reach out to parents
    • how to communicate with parents
    • work with parents as equal partners
    • implement and coordinate parent programs
    • build ties between parents and school
  • will, to the extent feasible, coordinate and integrate family engagement programs and activities with other state, federal, and local programs
  • will ensure that information provided to parents is in an understandable format
  • may involve parents in developing staff training
  • may provide literacy training from these funds
  • may pay reasonable and necessary expenses of parents
  • may train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents
  • may arrange school meetings at a variety of times to maximize family engagement
  • may adopt and implement model approaches to family engagement
  • may establish a district wide parent advisory council
  • may involve community-based organizations in parent activities
  • will provide such reasonable support requested by parents

Allocation Set-Aside

At certain levels of Title I funding, schools are required to set-aside a minimum amount for Parental Involvement activities. That threshold is $500,000. It is required that parents be involved in the decisions of how to spend Title I funds for these activities.

  • 1% allocation – the district shall set aside one percent of its agency allocation for family engagement if the allocation is above $500,000.
  • parental input – parents shall be involved in the decisions regarding expenditures for family engagement activities.

Resources

Families and school staff partner in decisions that affect children and families and together inform, influence, and create policies, practices, and programs.

Families and school staff collaborate with members of the community to connect students, families, and staff to expand learning opportunities, community services, and civic participation.

OPI Staff are here to help:

Serena Wright, Family Engagement Specialist, (406) 410-4098

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