- Academics
- District Updates
Last year, as part of the department’s curriculum adoption cycle, the secondary World Language program was evaluated and updated according to the results. Members of the committee included teachers, department chairs, principals, and administrators. Through the evaluation of data, literature reviews, and surveys, the committee made recommendations to improve:
- Student Engagement & Retention
- Leverage student motivation and define benchmarks for each proficiency level.
- Provide multiple pathways to meet learner needs and harness student interests, experiences, and backgrounds to increase engagement.
- Opportunities to develop global competencies, including intercultural, technology, life, and career skills.
- Instructional Strategy
- Use research-based practices that guide learners to develop competence to communicate effectively and interact with cultural understanding.
- Provide comprehensible input in listening, reading, and writing in the target language
- Work toward 90% of instructional time engaging in the target language.
- Students should have access to diverse, high-quality resources and cultural products.
- Students should use language in real-world scenarios to develop interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication.
- Teachers should embed the grammar and highlight necessary language structures.
- Assessments & Grading
- Assessments should focus on proficiency and provide formative and summative tasks that indicate performance based on state and national standards.
- Teachers should work together to align grading practices to ensure grades accurately reflect what students are able to do with the target language.
- Professional Development
- World language teachers should be provided job-embedded, ongoing collaboration and learning opportunities.
How is my World Language class going to change?
Teachers and students will spend 90% of classroom time communicating in the target language. Teachers will speak slowly from Day 1, focusing on comprehensible input. Grammar, verb conjugations, and vocabulary are established through communication and context. Students will engage with more authentic cultural resources rather than a textbook-based curriculum.
To learn more, please watch the World Language Program Evaluation presentation to the CCS School Board.