CAL Program Evaluation

Hawthorn School District 73 contracted with the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in the 2014-15 school year to conduct a program evaluation of the School of Dual Language. The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1959. Headquartered in Washington DC, CAL has earned an international reputation for its contributions to the fields of bilingual and dual language education, English as a second language, world languages education, language policy, assessment, immigrant and refugee integration, literacy, dialect studies, and the education of linguistically and culturally diverse adults and children. 

CAL’s mission is to promote language learning and cultural understanding by serving as a trusted source for research, resources, and policy analysisThe program evaluation is designed to give the school and our district sufficient information for strategic planning to adjust any program components that are in need of improvement, and to strengthen those areas already in alignment with best practices. The evaluation addressed three main questions:

  1. What are the strengths of the program’s design and implementation?

  2. What are potential areas of improvement for the program’s design and implementation?

  3. What are the academic, language and literacy outcomes for the district?

  4. What additional professional development, administrative support, resources or assessments would be useful for the district/school to increase alignment of program with best practices in curriculum, instruction, assessment and program design? 

FINAL CAL report on HSDL