Brenham ISD reports 682 emergent bilingual students; TELPAS scoring changes explained

Sarah Montes, ESL and bilingual coordinator, presented the districts annual bilingual and ESL program report required by the Texas Education Agency. Montes said the district currently serves 682 emergent bilingual students across seven campuses: 440 in ESL programs, 233 in bilingual classes and nine students whose parents denied services. She explained program models (transitional bilingual and pull-out ESL), staffing challenges and waiver counts (five bilingual exceptions and 23 ESL waivers for the current year).

Montes walked trustees through TELPAS (the English-language proficiency assessment), described its four domains and how students receive composite scores, and highlighted a change in TEAs growth counting: "So a change that TEA has made for this year is the composite needs to move," she said, noting the change will affect how growth points are awarded. Montes also reported the district reclassified 30 students this year so they no longer take TELPAS and outlined strategies to recruit and certify additional bilingual/ESL teachers and to develop newcomer curricula.