Writing as the Engine of Language Growth
How Bayless School District Accelerated EL Writing and WIDA Gains
The Need for Change
Bayless School District, located in St. Louis County, serves one of Missouri’s most linguistically diverse student populations. With nearly 400 multilingual learners and close to 100 newcomers each year, the district faces the dual challenge of helping students acquire English while ensuring they thrive academically. Writing is often the most difficult skill for multilingual learners to develop, and for years, Bayless teachers saw students hesitate, write very little, or avoid writing entirely.
the Data behind the Growth
All Students Writing More
+30-50 point shifts in writing performance bands within one year
Every grade span showed clear movement out of the lowest band
Large decreases in students scoring below 50%
Students moved into multi-sentence and paragraph-level writing
Writing increased in frequency, length, and clarity
1 Year of Accelerating Growth
+25-45 points in lowest performance bands across groups
K–1: 98.5% → 48.5% below 50%
2–5 Tier A: 75% → 45% below 50%
2–5 Tier B/C: 93.1% → 46.2% below 50%
6–12 Tier B/C: 69.7% → 44% below 50%
Growth happened across every proficiency tier
Students who once wrote little or nothing began producing complete, readable writing
Language Growth Accelerates with Writing
+Growth across ACCESS levels in overall English proficiency
Level 1 decreased (fewer students stuck at entry level)
Level 4 increased (more students reaching higher proficiency)
More students exited services (6 → 27 at secondary)
Increase in monitored status (18% → 22%)
The “middle” shifted upward—not stagnant
Students advanced through multiple growth pathways
Writing with Design produces consistent, replicable improvement across classrooms and grade levels.
Students who had once been hesitant or silent on the page were now writing—and writing with growing confidence and clarity.
What happens when every student has access to writing?
Bayless’s results show what’s possible when multilingual learners are given clear structure, consistent routines, and daily opportunities to write.