Charles County schools report steady growth in multilingual learners, cite staffing strain and outreach wins

Charles County Public Schools reported steady growth and modest test-score gains in its English language development program during the boards Dec. 10 meeting, while staff warned that teacher caseloads and newcomer needs are stretching resources.

Superintendent Maria Navarro introduced the English language development update and praised staff for outreach and programming that she said help families and students access services. "The mission of Charles County Public Schools is to provide an opportunity for all school age children to receive an academically challenging, quality education," Navarro said, introducing the presentation.

Autumn Hoffman, content specialist for ELD, told the board the system serves 1,289 active multilingual learners and 155 waived learners (parents who decline direct pull-out services). Those two groups together make up the federally recognized EL (limited English proficient) subgroup used in accountability reporting. Hoffman said 81.4 percent of multilingual learners speak Spanish at home and that a majority are U.S.-born: "791 of our MLs were born here and are citizens," she said.

Hoffman said the districts ACCESS data show a 2.1 percent increase in students exiting the program last year and a 0.7 percentage-point gain on the ELP (English language proficiency) indicator that contributes to school report cards for schools with at least 10 eligible MLs. She described an exit threshold used by Marylands MSDE: students who score 4.5 on the ACCESS (scale 1.0—to—0) are considered ready to be reclassified off the ELD caseload.

But ELD staff cautioned elected members that staffing levels are not keeping pace with enrollment. "Our goal is a 35-to-1 caseload," Hoffman said; in practice many itinerant ELD teachers average "45 to 50" students on their caseloads. Amanda Gwynn, an ELD teacher at J.P. Ryan Elementary, described the impact: she serves roughly 96 multilingual learners at her school, 92 of whom currently receive services, and said a recruiter shortage left her as the only ELD teacher last year for a large ML population. JP Ryans exit rate rose from 2.6 percent (2022—23) to 7.2 percent last year, Gwynn said, but she attributed some fluctuation in outcomes to staffing instability and shifting student cohorts.

Program staff also described differences by proficiency level and grade: younger children are scheduled for fewer, language-rich, weekly sessions in kindergarten, while older newcomers with interrupted schooling receive targeted pull-out instruction and a high-school newcomer pathway is in place for students with low or no literacy. Hoffman noted that interrupted educationmissing more than six months of schooling after age 11is particularly common among secondary newcomers and requires substantial academic as well as language supports.

Outreach and family engagement appeared to be a strength: the districts bilingual outreach coordinator, Jenny Herrera, helped organize bilingual community nights that drew more than 650 parents and students this fall, presented staff said. Hoffman said the outreach program aims to raise parent participation and to connect families with community resources.

Board members and staff discussed programs and accountability. Board member Nicole Kramer asked whether high school co-taught models could expand; staff said four high schools offer ELD services already and that further expansion depends on additional staffing. When asked whether students who exit could be reentered if performance declines, Hoffman said a reentry process exists but she had not needed it in her eight years in the role.

Why it matters: the districts multilingual learner population is growing and includes many U.S.-born students for whom English development is an academic priority rather than an immigration-driven service need. Staff framed modest test-score gains as progress while urging continued investment in dedicated ELD teachers and family outreach so exits are sustained.

What comes next: staff said they will continue to request additional staffing to reduce caseloads, expand co-taught high-school models when feasible, and sustain bilingual outreach events to strengthen parent engagement.