PRESS RELEASE

IU Kokomo partners with IU Southeast to support teachers of English language learners

KOKOMO, Ind. — More than half of the children who attend Logansport Community Schools speak a language other than English at home.

Indiana University Kokomo and its partner, IU Southeast, assist the school in meeting the needs of these students by offering teachers the opportunity to earn certification to teach English as a second language.

Tara Kingsley, IU Kokomo interim associate dean of education, said the program allows current teachers to add “English as a New Language/English as a Second Language” to their teaching certification. The first cohort of Logansport teachers completed the program this year, with a new cohort that will include teachers from North White School Corporation and Frankfort Community Schools beginning in the fall.

“Because of this partnership with IU Southeast, we can meet the needs of our region, offering something they already had that is needed here, in a way that can be tailored to our region,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to connect with other campuses and think creatively about programs we can offer that would serve the needs of our region and not have to build those programs from scratch.”

According to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), more than 139,000 of the state’s students in grades 9-12 speak a language other than English at home, with more than 295 languages represented. More than 83,000 of them are formally identified as English learners, due to limited proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing English. This is about 6 percent of the total student population. The IDOE notes that the majority of these students were born in the United States.

Tami McMahan, director of English language learners at Logansport Community Schools, said 52 percent of the district’s students are English language learners, with 26 different languages spoken.

“This goes farther than meeting requirements from the IDOE,” she said. “It’s really about building awareness and growing ourselves as educators so we can best serve our students and parents. This program helps our teachers be better equipped and have more skills to teach this particular group of students and address their particular needs.”

Last year, eight of the district’s teachers completed the program, and teachers are currently enrolling for the next cohort.

There are fully online certification programs available, but McMahan said they appreciate that the IU Kokomo/IU Southeast program is hybrid, with part of the classes online and part in person at Logansport. She teaches the capstone class, and local experts also contribute.

“We really love having that partnership of being able to embed some of our own faculty and our own staff into the program and having it here has been a really big benefit,” she said. “When you’re able to add that personal touch, it just impacts how you receive and take away the information. We have a long-standing relationship with IUK, with our paraprofessional program, Tomorrow’s Teachers, and the teacher residency program. This is another example of how you can work together to do amazing things, not only for our teachers, but for our students and community as well.”

Kingsley said planning is underway for the fall 2026 cohort, and noted that more schools can be added as needed.

“We can offer multiple classes as long as there are enough students,” she said. “This hybrid partnership is a creative way we can use IU’s resources to support and meet the needs of our region and state.”

For more information about the program, contact Kingsley at tkingsle@iu.edu.

Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.