World Language Program At Lazar Middle School Expanding

Montville Township Public Schools will be implementing an exciting curriculum change at Robert R. Lazar Middle School for the 2016-2017 academic year. Beginning in September, World Language instruction will expand to a three-year sequence of study. The new structure will expose students to three full years of study in one language, which will equate to a Level I high school World Language course.

In preparation for the anticipated expansion of Lazar’s World Language program, Students currently in grades 5, 6 and 7 will receive a survey during the week of February 8, 2016. Students and parents are asked to work together to discuss World Language preferences for each student and to rank those preferences in terms of World Language study for the 2016-2017 school year. Since the district is currently in the budgeting process for the 2016-2017 academic year, the results of this survey will be particularly useful in projecting for scheduling and providing resources for the middle school’s expanded World Language program. In order to be counted in the results, surveys should be returned to the main office at each of Montville Township’s five elementary schools and Lazar no later than Friday, February 12.

“World Language study is a core curriculum content requirement at the middle school level,” said Superintendent Dr. René Rovtar. “Our current program does not favorably compare to the middle school World Language experience offered in other high performing districts.”

For 2015-2016, the Montville Township Board of Education adopted a District Goal to implement and expand on the work of the World Language Task Force. The World Language Task Force was assembled during the 2014-2015 school year to recommend areas where World Language instruction could be developed and enhanced across all grade levels throughout the district. As a result, the Lazar World Language and Scheduling Committee was created and has been meeting regularly since October 2015 to develop recommendations for improving the World Language experience for Montville Township’s middle school students and provide them with a stronger foundation to enhance their success in World Language at the high school level.

Currently, middle school students in the district take one marking period of Italian and Spanish in sixth grade and one marking period of French and Mandarin in seventh grade.

According to Rovtar, many district students currently enroll in Level II World Language classes in their freshman year. “However,” Rovtar stated, “it is felt that only one year of full time study at the middle school level does not provide them sufficient experience to best support their success in the high school level courses.”

At the upcoming February 16, 2016 meeting of the Montville Township Board of Education, the complete list of recommendations from the Lazar World Language and Scheduling Committee will be presented.

“The committee’s primary recommendation is that a three-year sequence of World Language study be implemented beginning in September 2016,” Rovtar noted. “This survey will help us prepare to adopt that recommendation.”

The Township’s current grade 5, 6, and 7 students will receive the World Language survey during the week of February 8, 2016. Students and parents are asked to rank World Language preferences so the district can plan and schedule for the new World Language opportunities. The results of this survey will be used in the budgeting process for the 2016-2017 academic year. Grade 5 students should return surveys to the main office in their own elementary school. Students currently in grades 6 and 7 should return surveys to the main office at Robert R. Lazar Middle School. In order to be counted in the results, all surveys should be returned no later than Friday, February 12.