In recent years, Naperville School District 203 has been ramping up strategies attached to instructional programs geared toward multilingual learners. Officials have indicated the approaches in motion will continue in the years ahead.
Several staffers within Naperville 203’s learning services team recently provided an update on programs for multilingual learners as the 2025-26 school year progresses. A report delivered at a Monday, Oct. 20, board of education meeting included a number of statistics.
A look at the numbers, and the program’s evolution
This school year, Naperville 203 is serving students who represent 71 different languages, according to the board report. Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, and Hindi are the top five languages.
This school year, Naperville 203 is hosting 1,416 multilingual learners, with the majority — 808 students — at the elementary school level. The number of students receiving English language services has grown progressively over time, from 823 recipients within the district in 2013 to 1,393 students in 2023.
Regardless of the numbers, Jayne Willard, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said Naperville 203 has adopted a succinct mission statement that encompasses celebrating students’ backgrounds.
“Our goal remains clear — to ensure that every multilingual learner has equitable access to high-quality instruction and opportunities to thrive,” Willard said.
Approaches from decades ago that placed more emphasis on learning English have evolved to help students grow and maintain their native language while simultaneously working toward mastery of the new language.
Maribel Guerrero, Naperville 203’s director of language acquisition, described it as an “asset-based approach.”
“Our vision is to be a learning environment where multilingual learners thrive and are seen for their true potential and success,” Guerrero said. “Our mission is to educate, empower, and embrace every multilingual student by valuing their uniqueness and fostering success.”
Details behind District 203’s multilingual program expansion
Naperville 203 is in the midst of an expansion of the multilingual learner program that includes a three-year timeline of a full integration of various services that are geared toward serving students of all backgrounds and skill levels in upper grades.
In the last school year, Naperville 203 rolled out multilingual learner services to all schools for sixth-graders. This school year, the strategy has been expanded to include all other junior high grades as a part of a phased introductory expansion into Naperville Central High School.
In the upcoming 2026-27 school year, Naperville 203 officials plan to have a full expansion of the multilingual learners program across all secondary schools within the district.
District officials also are refining some of the outreach strategies to families and students alike to make both groups are aware of the full breadth of programs available. A detailed parent-teacher and teacher-teacher communication system has been adopted, for instance.
Additionally, Naperville 203 is refining some of its processes and protocols for newcomers entering one of the district’s schools for the first time.
“We will be working on prompt teacher notifications, pre-entry reviews of student information, leveraging multilingual staff for support, and fostering peer connections through a student ambassador program to ensure every newcomer feels valued and connected,” Guerrero said.
Board members laud the work that has taken place
During the recent discussion, Naperville 203 board members weighed in on the work the learning services team, and other district staffers, have been taking to help multilingual learners thrive.
“It’s great to see how much has been accomplished in such a short amount of time,” board member Joseph Kozminski said.
Board member Amanda McMillen offered up similar sentiments, stating, “It’s just so thoughtful, and we’re already seeing great results.”
From his vantage point, board member Marc Willensky said the work that has been undertaken within Naperville 203 is evident.
“I think what you’re doing is so wonderful, and inclusive,” Willensky said. “It just blows me away when you think that people from all over the world want to come to Naperville. I mean, that’s just very, very impressive.”
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