Aberdeen School Board hears ESL program update: 280 English learners, 11% exited last year
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Summary
ESL teachers told the Aberdeen School Board the district serves 280 English learners across 13 home languages, with Spanish and Korean most common; staff outlined assessments, exit criteria and services, and said 11% exited the program in 2024–25.
Tara Hill and Bailey Hoffman, the district’s ESL teachers, presented an overview of the Aberdeen School District 06-1 English Learner program at the Sept. 8, 2025, school-board meeting. They reported enrollment, staffing and the tests and services used to move students toward English-language proficiency.
Hill and Hoffman said the district serves 280 English learners who speak 13 home languages; Spanish and Korean are the majority languages. The presenters described the staffing configuration: eight certified ESL teachers (five stationed at elementary schools, one middle-school position shared between two middle schools, and two high-school teachers with one reassigned to middle school this year) and two educational assistants supporting the program.
They explained the screening and exit process: families who indicate a non-English home language at registration trigger a WIDA screener; qualifying students begin ESL services and remain in the program until they meet the state’s exit criteria. Students take the state-mandated ACCESS test in January–February; an ACCESS score of 5 qualifies a student to exit, or a student can exit via a combined pathway using classroom ELA results (a 3 or 4) together with an ACCESS score of 4 or higher.
“Once they receive ESL services, they stay in the program until they’ve exited,” Hill said. She added that students typically need several years to reach full academic proficiency: “The state says that it’s 5 to 7 years in order to be academically proficient.”
Presenters said instructional models include one-on-one or small-group pull-out services (students may receive pull-out 2–5 times per week depending on proficiency) and push-in/co-teaching supports in general classrooms. Staff create language acquisition plans and provide accommodations so classroom teachers can reinforce language goals when ESL staff are not present.
Hoffman described family engagement practices and interpretation support for conferences: the district hires background-checked interpreters (hourly) and uses an over-the-phone interpreting service when in-person help is unavailable; staff are actively recruiting community translators, particularly Korean speakers.
Hill and Hoffman also shared program outcomes and examples: 11% of the district’s ESL students exited the program during the 2024–25 school year. They offered an anecdote about two siblings who recently arrived from Guatemala, noting the kindergarten sibling scored a 6 on the WIDA screener and a fourth-grader scored a 4, illustrating variation in arrival proficiency.
No board action was required; trustees thanked the presenters and moved to the next agenda item.
