Berkeley County Schools reports surge in English learners; director asks for more staff, training and resources

At the March 17 board meeting Berkeley County Schools’ federal programs director, identified in the meeting as Ms. Patel, said the district is serving more English learners and is seeking additional staffing and professional learning to meet needs.

Ms. Patel told the board the district currently has 18 EL teachers and 740 students identified as English learners; staff evaluated 246 newcomers this year, and she said about 40% of newly tested students are classified as newcomers with very low English proficiency. “We now currently have 18 teachers, 700 and 40 students, and 246 of them are were evaluated throughout the year as, brand new to Berkeley County, of which 40% of them are newcomers as well,” she said.

The presentation outlined several operational points: ELPA21 is the district’s federally mandated annual English proficiency assessment; students receive scores in four domains (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and must achieve a combination of fours and fives across domains to exit the program. Ms. Patel said the district uses the Elevation platform (purchased with Title III funds) as a data warehouse and lesson bank; she reported about 980 district users had accessed the platform and 24 learning modules were completed to date.

Ms. Patel also explained allowable uses and limits of federal Title III funds: the Title III grant is “typically about a hundred and $20,000,” and she said “Title 3 money is not a resource that we can use to pay teachers.” She described Title III as appropriate for professional learning, summer programming, stipends and instructional resources, but not for hiring full‑time certified staff. The district funds a telephonic translation service from its own budget (staff estimated a purchase order of about $20,000) because that service cannot be paid directly from federal Title III funds.

Ms. Patel reviewed exit and growth rates: in 2021 the district’s EL exit rate was about 6%; it rose to about 12% in 2022 and about 14% in 2023. She outlined next steps the department is pursuing, including summer professional learning, additional one‑hour workshops on PL days, continued use and promotion of Elevated resources, and proposing SIOP (sheltered instruction) training for staff using Title III funds.

Board members asked about overlapping needs for students who are both English learners and identified for special education; Ms. Patel said those cross‑identified students participate in alt assessments when appropriate and that the district will supply requested cross‑tabulated counts. Several board members also raised concerns about testing accommodations and the emotional strain on students during assessment periods; Ms. Patel said accommodations are limited and that classroom teachers and administrators must coordinate secure testing windows.

What’s next: Ms. Patel said she expects to request additional ESL teacher positions and use Title III funding to expand professional learning and summer supports; the board requested follow‑up numbers on cross‑identified students and staffing proposals for future budget discussions.