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Gatesville ISD reviews emergent bilingual program: enrollment, interventions and staffing
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Summary
District staff reported 157 current English learners enrolled and 29 monitored students; the report outlined testing requirements, interventions, professional development and a modest number of reclassifications for the prior year.
Gatesville ISD staff presented the districtemergent bilingual (EB/ESL) program evaluation, providing enrollment counts and a summary of tests, interventions and professional development used to support students acquiring English.
District staff reported 157 students currently enrolled in ESL services and 29 monitored students who have exited the program but remain on academic monitoring. Staff also said 186 students in the 202526#8211;26 school-year roster meet the threshold for ESL services districtwide. The presenter noted there were five parental denials of services recorded; families may decline placement even though state testing is still required.
Staff described the state assessment framework used for EB students: TELPAS measures the four domains (reading, writing, listening and speaking), and grade-level reclassification requires performance thresholds on TELPAS plus district reading measures (STAR) or alternate assessments for grades not served by STAR. The presenter said that 12 students reclassified out of ESL services last year but that roughly 42 students did not meet the STAR reading benchmarks associated with reclassification.
Intervention tools reported in use included Imagine Learning and Literacy (for primary grades), ILET (for fourth grade and up) and K12 practice tools intended to mirror testing formats. Staff also distributed short content-based language instruction materials to classroom teachers as a practical professional development resource.
On staffing and training, the district reported multiple employees completed ESL-related training through Region 12 and other providers; four teachers who took the certification test passed it. Staff introduced two ESL personnel assigned this year: Jane Vonda and Angela Saldivar; Saldivar was identified as acting in a coordinator capacity for the school year.
Staff described family engagement activities, including a Spanish-language community night, Internet safety night and bilingual newsletters. The presenter said the systemParentSquareis being used to communicate in familiespreferred languages.
The board asked routine clarifying questions, including how a bilingual program is triggered (the presenter confirmed a threshold of 20 students speaking the same language in a grade typically triggers a bilingual program under state guidance), and discussed local capacity for additional services. No formal board action was required or taken on the program evaluation at the meeting.
