Federal and State guidelines require school districts to assess English language proficiency of ALL students who speak and/or understand a language other than English and to provide special English language instruction to all students who enter school not yet proficient in English

In Boulder Valley, all families complete a Home Language Survey as part of the registration process. Specially trained assessors from the department of Literacy and Language follow up with phone interviews and/or assessments to determine whether or not students qualify for an alternative language arts program.

In BVSD, alternative language arts instruction is provided through the ESL (English as a Second Language) program and, for some Spanish speakers, through the Bilingual Education program.

BVSD offers differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all students.  The schools with an ESL program offer specifc instruction on English language acquisition.  Students that qualify to enter an ESL program school may also opt out from this choice, and may attend a non-program school.  In order to do so, these students need to sign a Waiver Form at the Department of Language, Culture and Equity at the Education Center.

For a listing of staff and contact numbers, please visit Language, Culture and Equity Department Staff Listings, select Language, Culture and Equity  from the drop down menu, and click submit.