Reading scores climb with family literacy and multilingual support at west side school

This month teacher Megan Singh will stand at the front of a small class at Enlace Academy. But her students won’t be children — they’ll be parents, grandparents and relatives of Enlace students, learning English together to better support their kids at home.

Singh’s family literacy class is one way teachers at the west side Indianapolis charter school work to strengthen reading skills.

“It’s systematic phonics instruction that is aligned to what we do here at Enlace in our program, so that parents can transfer those skills and teach them to their kids at home,” Singh said.

The approach combines phonics instruction, comprehension strategies and dedicated parent-child learning time — all designed to connect classroom lessons with what happens at home. Singh, a multilingual language teacher, shows parents the same techniques their children use in class so lessons can continue in English, Spanish or Haitian Creole after school.

Since the school year began six weeks agao, Enlace is moving to support its growing population of English learners. Most of the school’s roughly 670 students speak a language other than English at home. Leaders say the number of Haitian Creole speakers has surged in recent years.

That diversity shapes nearly every decision — from hiring multilingual teachers to ensuring school communication is sent home in three languages.

Assistant school leader Tylie Mendoza-Robertson said the start of the year is crucial for identifying strengths and challenges in all students.
 

“In terms of literacy, a lot of the work at the beginning of the year is just figuring out where everybody is at data wise,” Mendoza-Robertson said. “And how do we tailor the work that we’re doing to where our current population is?”

Staff assess needs even before the first day of school, tracking which informational flyers families pick up at back-to-school events to identify services that might be in demand.

The school partners with City Connects, a Marian University program that addresses out-of-school barriers to learning. Teachers meet with a social worker to review every student in their class, discussing academic challenges, housing instability, behavior needs and emotional well-being.

School leader Stephanie Campos said the staff approach is “all hands on deck.”

“An email goes out with the little kiddos picture, their name, their grade, and just like high level, like why we need to handle with care,” Campos said. “And so then that allows opportunity to build belonging with that kiddo, to see how they can share more information with any adult that they feel closest to. And it brings awareness the whole staff to wrap their arms around the
kiddos.”

All kindergarten and first grade classrooms have a bilingual instructional assistant so lessons can be taught in a student’s native language. Students can also work in small groups with multilingual staff.

In addition, all grades have at least one multilingual teacher.

“It is top of mind in terms of our hiring,” said executive director Katie Dulay. “It’s top of mind in terms of any communication that goes home is sent home in three languages.”

All front office staff are multilingual, so families can speak in their native language with their primary point of contact.

Campos said building that trust is key: “You could be who you are and show up as you are, and we will make sure that we service you. You don’t have to assimilate into a culture to communicate your needs.”
 

Enlace also partners with the National Center for Family Literacy to include parents and guardians in the learning process. Parents of second and third graders are invited into the classroom once a week during phonics instruction. They then meet with a staff member to review a comprehension lesson they can practice at home in any language.

Singh said the goal is to empower parents. “We have some parents who say, ‘well, I learned it differently,’ and I’m like, ‘cool. Teach them that way too,’” she said.

Any relative of a student can enroll in free English classes taught by multilingual staff. Classes run from late August to May, with themes chosen based on parent surveys. This semester’s theme is health literacy.

Singh, in her fourth year of teaching the classes, said families often recruit relatives to join.

School leaders credit family engagement as a driver of recent academic growth. More students are passing the IREAD exam than ever before. The school’s passing rate on the state third grade reading test rost by nearly 20 points compared to last year — from 40.5% passing rate to 60%.

“Having families as partners and moving the needle made a huge difference,” Dulay said.

WFYI reporter Sydney Dauphinais covered Marion County schools.

Contact education editor Eric Weddle at eweddle@wfyi.org.