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District report: dual-language students closer to district averages; ESL students lag in several subjects
Summary
A district program evaluator presented the 2024-25 dual-language and ESL evaluation, reporting a 3% increase in dual-language enrollment, a 2% ESL decline tied to reclassification-criteria changes, a 7% reclassification rate, and performance gaps that prompted plans for professional development and targeted supports in grades 6'8.
District program staff presented the 2024-25 evaluation of Dickinson ISD's programs for emerging bilingual students and outlined recommended supports.
"The first one is the dual language one-way'. The goal is for students to become biliterate and bilingual by the end of the program," the presenter said, explaining the dual-language model (pre-K through grade 5, about 50% instruction in Spanish) and distinguishing it from the ESL program (pre-K through 12, instruction in English; content-based and pull-out models).
The presenter said recent state reclassification-criteria changes made exiting the programs easier and contributed to a districtwide decrease in ESL enrollments, while dual-language enrollment rose by about 3%. Assessment results showed dual-language students who tested in English were only about two percentage points below the district average in RLA for grades 3'5; ESL students tended to perform further below the district average with the largest gaps appearing in social studies and high-school English 1 and English 2 end-of-course exams.
The presenter reported 7% of emerging bilingual students met reclassification criteria for the 2024-25 school year, with most reclassifications occurring in grades 7 and 8. Staff also said staffing-certification issues required waivers and bilingual exceptions last year (six bilingual exceptions and 53 waivers), and that roughly 23% of students were served via alternative methods when appropriately certified teachers were not available.
Moving forward, the district said it will expand professional development for dual-language and ESL teachers, add vocabulary objectives in curriculum pacing guides, deploy intervention groups at the high-school level during Gator time, and include language objectives across content areas starting in the 2026-27 school year.
Next steps: district staff will implement the recommended professional development and curricular adjustments and report back to the board on progress and outcomes.
