Academic Program Pillars
Academia Cesar Chavez has five key pillars which uphold the rigor of our academic program. We strive not just to simply highlight but embed these pillars in every single subject in every single class, in all of our daily instruction.
Academic Program Components
Instructional Practices
Academia Cesar Chavez utilizes Biliteracy Squared and GLAD strategies to more effectively develop bilingualism. At ACC, the teacher facilitates the conditions for students to express themselves in the language they are most comfortable in as they navigate learning in both languages.
Project GLAD, Guided Language Acquisition Design, is an instructional model that incorporates the use of multiple research-based and highly effective instructional strategies. Using Project GLAD, teachers deliver academic content and language while using an integrated, balanced literacy approach. These strategies used in the classroom build on cross-cultural skills, while allowing students to practice the use of high-level thinking and academic language. An example of this in action is a lesson in the Kindergarten classrooms which involves showing a world map and illustrating each Spanish-speaking country, where students interacted by sharing the country their family comes from and were excited to share this fact with their classmates, and the teacher gave examples of the differing accents and dialects across these countries. All Academic staff are given consistent training on these strategies, and receive regular professional development through Professional Learning Teams.
Literacy Approach
Students school wide are assessed in the fall using NWEA in both English and Spanish, as well as one-on-one performance assessments. Performance assessments are based on classroom instruction and everyday tasks. Teachers and students set up goals based on assessment results and growth projections. Teachers monitor progress consistently throughout the school year to ensure that students are on track with targets, and to determine what skills they need to work on to continue their growth. Instructional teams meet with Bilingual Instructional Coaches biweekly to review their curriculum, student growth progress, and then determine what standards students are working on and to discuss teaching strategies to reach and engage all students.
Curriculum
We align our teaching with consistent access to relevant, engaging, standards-aligned, grade-level appropriate curriculum and bilingual texts in every core class. Academia Cesar Chavez school uses different curricular resources in addition to supplemental school developed curriculum in subject areas. In our constant effort to be a student-centered school, we adapt our curriculum to the students’ needs while maintaining the rigor and alignment of the standards.
Special Education Program
Academia Cesar Chavez serves students in need of an Individual Education Plan through its Special Education program. The Special Education Program at ACC consists of licensed Special Education teachers, Educational Partners, our SPED Coordinator, and a Director of Special Education contracted through Indigo Education, with additional services provided by outside agencies for services such as occupational therapy and speech pathology.
The SPED program is currently built around a pull-out, resourcing model. SPED teachers pull students for small group direct instruction based on grade level and assessed ability, and Educational Partners push-in to support students with IEPs within the general education setting. In middle school, most services occur during elective course time so that students are not pulled out of their core classes.
ACC holds a Child Study Team bimonthly to review referrals submitted by general education teachers and families. The team designs interventions for students who may not qualify for special education services yet may still need support to succeed in their classes. Interventions are decided by the team, implemented, and tracked for 8-12 weeks, then revisited to review the results of the interventions and decide the best next steps moving forward. If services are indicated, a SPED evaluation is administered, and recommendations are made based on the state criteria. If an IEP is appropriate, it is then created with goals and objectives for that year.
A copy of the TSES Manual is available upon request by contacting our SPED Coordinator.
ELL Services
Academia Cesar Chavez is home to a student-centered biliteracy framework that is at the heart of a cutting-edge, research-based Dual Language Bilingual Education program, a model with a growing body of academic study showcasing its success. Our teachers learn to develop holistic biliteracy units of instruction, lesson plans, and assessments that place Spanish and English side by side. Educators also learn to teach to students’ potential within empirically based, scaffolded biliteracy zones and to support emerging bilinguals’ trajectories towards biliteracy.
Academia uses best practices in language acquisition to support simultaneous academic development of English and Spanish. Research shows that emergent bilinguals who are supported in their primary language while learning a new language have more academic success across the curriculum than learners whose primary language is not supported. ACC’s English Language Learners are supported in the classroom with methods such as language support strategies embedded in units and lessons delivered by the classroom teacher, and collaborative planning and co-teaching support with English Language Learner teachers, with supplemental support as needed.
Students needing EL services are identified through information from home language questionnaires during enrollment, as well as results from either the ACCESS test or the WIDA Screener, which is given in the absence of an ACCESS score. Students who received services in the previous academic year will continue to be serviced until formally exited from the program. In accordance with the mandate set by the state of Minnesota, a student that is designated as an EL may exit the program if they pass the ACCESS test requirements. They then continue to be monitored by EL faculty for up to four years after exiting the program. Families may opt their child out of EL services at any time by sending a request in writing to the school.
Academia Cesar Chavez utilizes methods such as translanguaging strategies to more effectively and accurately assess student progress in content areas. By giving students the opportunity to showcase their learning in whichever language—or combination of languages—they are most comfortable conveying themselves in at that time, we are able to articulate a richer and deeper understanding of said students’ progress towards mastery.
For these services, we have licensed ESL teachers as well as staff with bilingual endorsements. Working together to create and execute daily or weekly content and language objectives is central to addressing the academic needs of our school.
