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Castleberry reports bilingual and ESL students show gains; district targets middle-school math and algebra
Summary
Laura Guzman presented the 2024–25 emerging bilingual program evaluation, reporting dual-language students outperform state emergent-bilingual averages in early grades while the district will target middle-school math and algebra for improvement.
Laura Guzman, secondary emergent bilingual coordinator for Castleberry ISD, presented the 2024–25 program evaluation for emerging bilingual (EB) students, outlining performance across dual-language and ESL models.
Guzman said the district serves EB students through a one-way dual-language program (Spanish-English bilingual instruction aimed at biliteracy) and an English as a second language (ESL) model. She reported dual-language students in early elementary grades are performing above the state emerging bilingual average in Spanish language arts, with particular growth in third and fourth grades; she warned that fifth-grade Spanish literacy results are an area for refinement and noted the small cohort size (14 students) for that grade.
In English-language STAR reading and math measures, Guzman said dual-language students testing in English outperformed the state EB average across grades; ESL students showed growth, with some grades (sixth grade reading) outperforming the state. Guzman identified algebra I and eighth-grade math as areas where EB students remain behind targets and said the district would target acceleration strategies for seventh-grade math.
Guzman also reported updated reclassification data: after cleaning and finalizing records, 106 EB students met criteria for reclassification (which requires a passing STAAR reading score, high TOPAS composite and teacher recommendation). She emphasized that reclassified students remain monitored for two years before exiting formal EB monitoring.
The presentation included a list of professional-development offerings the department provided to build teacher capacity, and a waiver table showing bilingual-section and ESL waiver needs by campus. Board members discussed differences between dual-language and ESL outcomes and asked for further detail on assessment measures and bridging middle-school performance gaps.
Ending: The board received the evaluation and asked staff to follow up with more detailed middle-school math plans and to present midyear circle/AMIRA results in March.
