English Language Learners

Many Voices with a Common Goal: Educating All Students

There are more than 80 languages spoken in the households that make up Des Moines Public Schools. The district serves nearly 5,000 English Language Learner students with 138 committed and dedicated teachers and staff, including bilingual outreach workers at 43 different sites throughout the community.

And their efforts are paying off.  For example, ELL fourth grade students saw proficiency improvements of 9.4 percent on last year’s ITBS reading scores, reaching the highest levels in the past 10 years.

The goals of the ELL program are:

• To educate English Language Learners to the same rigorous curriculum standards as all students in the district while achieving English language objectives in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
• To promote pride in students’ cultural and linguistic identities, maintain cultural heritage, and prepare students to actively participate within American society.
• To ensure that the educational process is a cooperative effort between home and school; it creates opportunities to involve families, communities, and DMPS staff.

There is a rising tide of bilingual students Des Moines, one of the benchmarks of world class schools. The ELL program strives to provide the best ELL services and programs to meet the needs of our ELL students and families.

The district’s Welcome Center, located at 1301 2^nd Avenue, houses many resources for ELL families and may be reached at 242-8102.

For additional information on ELL programs in Des Moines, please visit the links in the menu to the right.