Cleveland Metropolitan School District

"Supporting English Learners Achieve Academic Excellence!"

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) offers free language assistance for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students and parents with respect to school programs and activities. Families who are limited in speaking, reading, writing or comprehending English are eligible for assistance. We also serve families in the following ways:

• Provide enrollment and language assessments for students whose first language is not English
• Family and student support services in several languages
• Parent orientation services in different languages for District services and second language services
• Parental engagement events and workshop
• Resources and community referrals wraparound services
• Student and family advocacy
• Translation and interpretation services
• Provide assistance with home and school connections, and facilitates communication and school options/choices
• Provide assistance with families and students in crisis
• Connect with families and students to community agencies to assist with meeting basic needs such as afterschool children programs, tutoring, ESL classes, GED classes, employment and training

The District, with over 41,026 students in preschool through grade 12, has the second largest enrollment of any school district in Ohio.  Students in the District are ethnically diverse: 26,754 of students are African American, 11,248 Caucasian, 960 Hispanic, 452 Asian/Pacific Islander, 193 American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 1,285 Multi-racial. 

CMSD currently services approximately 4,726 English Language Learners (ELL) and former English Learners (EL’s) which are monitored for four consecutive years in grades K-12.  The EL student population breakdown of native languages provided services are as follows:  Spanish, Arabic, MayMay/Somali, Kinyamulenge, Chinese/Cantonese/Mandarin, Swahili, Ukrainian, Urdu, Cambodian, Kirundi, and Nepali.  The EL Spanish speaking student population represents 71% of the total EL population.  974 of EL pupils are identified as immigrants and 789 as refugees.

The school district has recognized the unique linguistic, cultural and academic needs of the EL student population and has implemented supportive programs to meet their needs since 1976.  The Cleveland Metropolitan School District is committed to interventions that provide first and second language supportive services allowing students to achieve within the District’s curriculum which follows the state’s competency-based educational models.

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