District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC)

Our vision is to create a multicultural and multiethnic, parent-led committee comprised of English Language Learner (ELL) parents and community members whose task will be to provide recommendations to school and district officials in regards to programs and services provided to ELL students. 

Learning Opportunities

Technology Goes Home

OEL hosts Technology Goes Home (TGH) workshops for our BPS EL parents/caregivers and families in the communities in which they reside each year. Parents and families have the opportunity to participate in a 15-hour workshop to learn 21st-century skills that helps them to support their child’s education in one of the languages offered (Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese). The workshop covers topics such as how to track your child’s school bus, grade, and attendance online, how to communicate with teachers and counselors through emails and how to search for web-based family resources. Upon completion of the training, participating families are offered the option to purchase a brand new Chromebook computer at a low price. OELL also assists families to offset the cost of the computer that they are eligible to purchase through TGH, and a graduation ceremony is hosted at the end of the workshop to celebrate and honor the participants who completed the training.

Parent/Family Literacy Program

OEL is committed to promoting parent engagement and literacy of EL families. To that end, we closely work with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to provide literacy education for families and parents of BPS EL students. The purposes of the Parent/Family Literacy Programs are: (1) to improve parent literacy for the purpose of expanding the parents’ role in the literacy development of their children as they gain academic achievement; (2) to prepare parents to advocate for the success of their children’s education in the Boston Public Schools and their communities; (3) to expand parent-school readiness with a focus placed on better navigation of the current school system and its various offices that offer family support. CBOs that specialize in serving families of students who speak the district’s major languages conduct a series of workshops and training that focus on English language acquisition, literacy and other relevant skills that will ultimately help parents to meaningfully participate in their children's education in their native language. The curriculum materials are provided in both English and parent’s native language and include culturally and linguistically sustaining practices.