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School district says $85,000 ESOL grant will train 40 teachers in sheltered‑instruction methods
Summary
District staff told the board an $85,000 one‑time grant from the Florida Department of Education will pay professional development for 40 teachers in ESOL/sheltered‑instruction approaches; staff described coaching, trainer‑of‑trainers options and data needs to measure student proficiency and exits from ESOL.
The Shreveport County School District presented a one‑time $85,000 grant for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) professional development designed to train 40 teachers across the district.
District staff said the funding, identified by the Florida Department of Education as targeted to districts with rapid growth in English‑learner populations, will support training and follow‑up coaching. “They also receive coaching … and then tools and materials to solidify that implementation in their classroom,” Board Chair Joyce said while describing the program’s structure.
Staff described a layered approach: district ESOL specialists and two trainer‑of‑trainers lead integrated monthly professional‑learning cohorts, and some teacher leaders perform internal coaching to broaden classroom implementation. Staff said the district has used federal categorical funds for ESOL historically and is “continually looking for those grants” to remove barriers to teacher preparation.
Board members asked for more disaggregated outcome data: not only overall proficiency and growth but the share of English learners who reach level 4 (the district’s stated threshold for exiting ESOL). A board member requested that staff “bring last year’s data on the percentage of students … considered proficient and then exiting ESOL.”
No formal vote or final adoption was recorded in the transcript for this agenda item; the presentation was discussed and questions were taken.
The district said the expansion is one‑time funding; staff framed follow‑up steps as reporting more detailed student‑level and subgroup data at a later date.
