Roughly 2,400 Sherman ISD students are classified as having limited English proficiency, according to a program update set for the school board on Monday. The update shows three campuses earning the top score on the state's measure of how quickly those students are gaining English, with the rest earning 0 or 1 of 4 points.
The update is an information item on the superintendent's report for the Monday, Oct. 19, meeting at the Sherman ISD Service Center, 2701 N. Loy Lake Road. The board's workshop begins at 5 p.m., and the open session that includes the report resumes at 6:30 p.m.
Kelly Flowers, the district's director of elementary and school achievement, is listed as presenter, joined by Washington Elementary Principal Ali Holderby and ESL specialist Angelica Campbell.
Who is served
The district's cover memo breaks the roughly 2,400 students into three groups:
- 732 students in a one-way dual language program, taught in English and Spanish, from prekindergarten through fifth grade
- 1,336 students receiving English as a second language services, from prekindergarten through 12th grade
- 321 former English learners whose progress the district still monitors
For scale, a separate enrollment report in the same board packet counts 7,517 students districtwide as of Oct. 8.
Bilingual classes are offered at five campuses: the Fred Douglass and Perrin early childhood centers and Crutchfield, Fairview and Washington elementaries. Students are tested in both English and Spanish to decide whether they qualify. The slides list 43 bilingual teachers and 18 bilingual paraprofessionals.
ESL services are available at every campus, through pull-out sessions and through English support built into regular subjects. Students in their first three years in U.S. schools, whom the district calls newcomers, get more intensive English instruction.
Staffing listed for ESL includes five specialists for kindergarten through eighth grade, two sheltered English teachers at the high school, ESL-certified reading and language arts teachers and added aides in grades 6 through 12.
