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Taylor ISD reports rise in emergent bilingual enrollment, staffing supports and 24 reclassifications this year
Summary
District staff reported 615 emergent bilingual students (up from 599), outlined dual-language and ESL program models, reported 24 reclassifications this year (up from 22), noted 14 staffing waivers were submitted, and described professional development and stipend programs to support certification and instruction.
Taylor Independent School District reported an increase in emergent bilingual enrollment and described current bilingual/ESL programming, staffing strategies and reclassification results during the Oct. 20 board meeting.
District staff said total emergent bilingual enrollment is 615 students this year, up from 599 last year. The district uses Circle assessments for pre-K; K–8 uses other screeners and programing. Staff described program models: a one-way dual language immersion program (Spanish-English) intended to develop bilingual proficiency across subjects, elementary ESL content-based instruction delivered by ESL-certified teachers, and a middle/high school ESL pullout/inclusion model.
The presenter said the district reclassified 24 students this year (up from 22 last year) based on TELPAS and other proficiency measures. Staff noted pockets of strong performance—fifth grade cohorts and some seventh-grade reading results outperformed monolingual peers in specific measures—and said the district is capturing effective teacher practices to scale across campuses.
The district has implemented supports for staffing and certification: three summer ESL Academy opportunities; reimbursement for teachers who pass the ESL exam; and no-cost first attempts for dual-language certification exams. Stipends were described as $7,000 annually for certified dual-language teachers, $4,000 for noncertified dual-language teachers, and $1,000 for ESL teachers. The presenter said the district submitted 14 waivers this year for teachers working without certification (many were new staff), and that two teachers who received planning and PD successfully obtained certification.
District staff outlined a comprehensive professional development plan and monthly dual-language teacher meetings, and they noted family engagement activities and the hiring of a district-level emergent bilingual coordinator to centralize supports for families and staff.
Trustees were told the district provides summer programs to address "summer slide;" for the most recent summer the district invited 70 pre-K and kindergarten students into emergent bilingual programming. Staff emphasized the goal of reclassification to English proficiency while maintaining students' native language skills for dual-language participants.
