North Platte Public Schools reports growth in English learner program; two new teachers added for 2025-26

At the May 12, 2025, meeting of the North Platte Public Schools Board of Education, English learner coordinator Kelly Sheets reported sustained growth in the district’s English learner (EL) program and told trustees the district will add two certificated EL teachers for the 2025–26 school year.

Sheets told the board the program now includes students who speak 23 languages and that, as of the report, the district had 63 active EL students and 31 students designated as monitors for a total of 194 students. She said 23 new EL students are already registered for next year and will require screening.

The report described classroom models, curriculum and family engagement. Sheets said the district uses EL Achieve curriculum that targets reading, writing, speaking and listening every day and emphasizes explicit language instruction and structured talk; the program aims for students to do about half of classroom talk time. She described frequent use of visuals, color coding of grammar, sentence frames and scaffolded, accommodated assessments for younger students. The district also ran two family engagement nights this year and an annual zoo trip used as a culminating activity for EL instruction.

Board discussion covered staffing and operational details. Superintendent Dr. Rhodes and other district staff told trustees the district prioritized EL hiring this year: Sheets and administrators said two additional certificated EL positions will be on staff next year. One of the newly hired teachers, accepted on the prior Friday, is bilingual and has a background as an interventionist and in special education; the second new hire is a beginning teacher. Sheets said they are finalizing assignments with teaching-and-learning staff to place those teachers where they will be most needed.

Trustees and staff also discussed how students are identified and monitored. Sheets explained the district screens students when registration indicates a language other than English. She described the screening process on Infinite Campus and said students who score proficient on the ELPA21 screener are placed in general education without EL supports; students who score “progressing” or “emerging” in any of the four domains (reading, writing, speaking, listening) remain in the EL program until they demonstrate proficiency.

Sheets said the program’s distribution across proficiency levels has shifted upward in students needing the most support: the district reported 78 students at level 1 (beginning/silent period), 35 at level 2 (early intermediate), 36 at level 3 (intermediate), 14 at level 4 (early advanced) and 31 advanced/monitor students.

She also described informal peer supports at the high school level, where recently exited monitor students often help beginning students, and noted the district this year operated busing arrangements that staff said would be adjusted next year to reduce travel for students receiving EL services.

Board members praised the program’s alignment to grade-level standards and its use of EL Achieve to accelerate students toward grade-level work; Sheets noted that when the EL curriculum is aligned to course standards it can count for high-school English credit. Trustees asked about family turnout at engagement nights and were told elementary family participation was stronger than secondary, in part because many secondary students work after school.

The board did not take a formal vote on program changes at the meeting. Staff said final placement of the new hires and instructional-material purchases will be completed before the 2026–27 materials cycle.

The report and discussion were presented during the May 12 board meeting; trustees asked staff to continue refining placement and programming prior to the next school year.