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District reports 3.7% English Learner population; ACCESS testing and SPI implications discussed

Tea Area School District 41-5 Board of Education · January 13, 2026
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Summary

Administrators reported the district’s English Learner population is about 3.7% (~80 students, down from 98), explained the identification and exit rules (ACCESS and state summative criteria), and noted turnover and building-level EL progress that feed into the School Performance Index.

Dr. Walder, from the curriculum, instruction and assessment department, presented the district’s English Learner (EL) program data and the implications for school performance measures.

The presentation said roughly 3.7% of the district’s students—about 80 pupils—are currently identified as EL, down from 98 the year prior. Dr. Walder described identification procedures (phone language survey and a screener) and the two pathways to exit EL services under South Dakota rules: (1) an overall ACCESS language proficiency score of 5 or higher, or (2) an overall ACCESS score of 4 plus a 3 or 4 on the South Dakota summative assessment for tested grades. Students who exit EL status remain on a four-year monitoring plan.

Dr. Walder outlined building-level EL contributions to the School Performance Index (SPI): EL progress accounts for 10% of the K–8 SPI and remains a component of high school SPI calculations. Frontier had the highest EL points in the district (6.9 out of 10 in the presenter’s chart). The presentation noted turnover is a challenge for EL progress: of the 80 students scheduled for ACCESS testing, 61 were in the district last year, 18 left and 19 are new or were not tested previously.

Staffing: the district has two EL staff members who split coverage across elementary buildings, middle and high school; Mallory Scheidegger (registrar) triggers screening when a home language other than English is reported. The district reported 13 home languages; Spanish represents about 41.8% of EL home languages.

Next steps: the district will administer the ACCESS window at the end of the testing period and continue in-service training for teachers to support EL instruction.