Language Planning- Letter to Parents

March 6, 2008

Dear KDES Community:

We are excited to announce the establishment of a Language Planning Work Group at KDES. For several years language planning has been a major goal of our Accreditation for Growth (AFG) Literacy action plan. During this time, we have focused on strengthening our understanding and use of language planning in the instructional program, including training of administrators, teachers, and staff, and educating our families. During the recent stakeholders meeting, language planning was identified by both groups – families and teachers- as a top priority and as an area that needed more work.

The goal of this Language Planning Work Group is to develop a work plan to address student acquisition and development of both American Sign Language (ASL) and English languages for a variety of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children to promote academic success. The work plan will address concerns related to what is language planning at KDES, how are both languages developed and taught in the school environment, and the assessment component. This plan will be multi-year with timelines.

Frequent updates will be shared with the community for feedback. The final recommendations from the work group are due June 1st. This will allow time to share the work plan with the community before the school year ends and to ensure that work can take place this summer for full implementation during the 2008-2009 school year.

The members of this work group, which represent our diverse stakeholders, are:

Jennifer Furlano Signacy/ASL, ASL/Deaf Studies Specialist
Francisca Rangel Signacy/ASL, ASL/Deaf Studies Coordinator, Language Planning Instructor
Bettie Waddie-Smith Oracy/Spoken English, Speech Language Specialist
Suzanne Scott Oracy/Spoken English, Outreach Specialist, Language Planning Instructor
Gabrielle Jones Literacy, Special Projects Teacher (Literacy Coach)
Holly McBride Teacher/Multiple Disabilities
Steven Benson Teacher/Early Childhood Education
Lynne Erting Knowledge Integration-Literacy, ECE Team (coordinator support)
Susan Schatz Instruction, Coordinator of Instruction, Grades 1-8
Linda Delk Researcher
Julie Walkup Parent, ECE Team, Oracy/Spoken Language
Rebecca Gage Parent, Team 123/45, Signacy/ASL
Nancy Berrigan Project Manager

Please contact me if you have any questions about this initiative. Additionally, please feel free to provide feedback to any member of this work group. Working collaboratively, we will continue to strengthen our educational program at KDES.

Sincerely,


Marilyn Farmer
Principal