District 45 English Learner teachers Mia Bohlin from Ardmore Elementary and Margaret Gigous from North Elementary participated as presenters at the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) conference on February 12 in Chicago.
Bohlin and Gigous joined a panel for Summit K12’s session titled “Leading the Way: How Districts are Transforming Outcomes for Emergent Bilinguals.” Summit K12 provides resources to help educators tailor instruction, track student progress, and support language development.
During their presentation, Bohlin and Gigous described how they and other educators in District 45 use Summit K12’s “Connect to Literacy” program. They explained that this program assists teachers in developing students’ skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The program also helps align teaching methods with English language development standards.
The two teachers shared strategies such as self-reflection, peer and teacher feedback, and practicing oracy before writing. These approaches have contributed to improved outcomes for students learning English in the district.
“Thank you, Mrs. Bohlin and Mrs. Gigous, for your excellence in helping our students succeed, and for your willingness to share our district’s success with other professionals,” the district stated.
Villa Park School District 45 serves DuPage County and includes Ardmore Elementary School as well as North Elementary School among others. The district had an enrollment of 3,306 students during the 2019-2020 school year and serves grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. More information about the schools represented can be found at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/.
According to data from the Illinois State Board of Education, Villa Park School District 45 employs 224 teachers with an average salary of $74,159 before pension contributions; women make up nearly 83 percent of the teaching staff. No teacher in the district had more than ten absences during a school year. Further details are available at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/.
Demographically, the student population is composed of approximately 43 percent White students, 35 percent Hispanic students, eight percent Asian students, and nearly eight percent Black students (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).
In terms of spending, Villa Park School District 45 allocated $23,216 per student in 2020 for a total expenditure of over $76 million (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).
The chronic truancy rate within the district was reported at 3.6 percent during the same period—significantly lower than the statewide average of nearly ten percent (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).
