Washington Students Earn Commanding Designation on NYSESLAT

Washington Primary School Principal Dr. Michelle Richards is applauding for students in her building who captured a “Commanding” designation on the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test. It’s an annual assessment for K–12 English Language Learners (ELLs)/Multilingual Learners (MLLs) in New York State to measure English proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

It determines eligibility for continued ENL/bilingual services, scoring students as Entering, Emerging, Transitioning, Expanding, or Commanding.

“Washington Winners who achieved ‘Commanding’ on the NYSESLAT were celebrated for their hard work and dedication to learning how to read, write, and speak the English language with proficiency,” Dr. Richards said.

The students included Ashley Bueso Zepeda, Joab Campos Turcios, Lucia Castro Martinez, Leah Cortez, Kimberly Cuadra, Grethel Galeas Hernandez, Emerson Munoz Guevara, Simon Sanandres Sanchez and Liz Zavala Hernendez.

“In addition to these Washington Winners who are enrolled in the school for the 2025/26 school year, there are seven students who are enrolled in the intermediate schools who achieved the ‘Commanding’ proficiency,” Dr. Richards said.

Those Washington alumni and current fourth graders include Sarahi Posada Lopez, Dabin Ahn, Liam Arreaga Vega, Johanna Sionicio Zepeda, Keiry Salazar Dominguez, Saul Castro Martinez and Joshua Flores Gonzalez.