Fort Bend ISD Gifted and Talented students show improved performance, while bilingual students trail behind the overall district students.
In a nutshell
The district reviews bilingual and GT programs each school year using student growth, student achievement, instructional walkthroughs, program implementation and compliance, Chief Academic Officer Matt Warford said in a Nov. 9 presentation to the FBISD board of trustees.
GT students continue to excel past the district’s average performance, and while bilingual students also improved performance, they still fall behind the average in some categories and struggle with achievement gaps, Warford said.
The programs
Gifted and talented
The gifted and talented program serves students who require greater complexity and academic challenges. The program accounts for 5,542 GT students or 7.4% of district enrollment at the time of the presentation.
The district uses a cognitive ability test along with teacher and parent inventories to identify GT students.
GT students scored higher on their Measure of Academic Progress scores compared to the district-wide scores, which also improved this year. Additionally, a larger percentage of GT students' work was rated as advanced or expert.
Over half of Fort Bend ISD schools also held new-to-GT meetings to engage parents, and Warford said staff wants to continue hosting them. Other goals staff hopes to meet by June 2027 include:
Increasing the percentage of students meeting GT rigor expectations from 21% to 35%
Increasing the percentage of GT Learning Plans completed from 73% to 85%
Increasing the percentage of GT projects rated advanced or expert from 29% to 35%
Emergent bilingual program
FBISD’s emergent bilingual program serves 14,680 students or 20% of district enrollment, Warford said.
To identify participants, students take a language proficiency assessment, a committee reviews the results and requests a program, and after getting parent permission, the child can be enrolled in the appropriate multilingual program.
On average, emergent bilingual students scored lower on State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, tests from third to eighth grade compared to overall district scores.
However, third through 12th grade emergent bilingual students scored above the state average in the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System, which tests English proficiency in emergent bilingual students, per the Texas Education Agency website.
The district hosted opportunities to draw parent engagement, but Warford said he hopes to continue strengthening the representation. Other goals staff hopes to meet by summer of 2027 include:
Increasing English language proficiency from 68% to 80%
Increasing ESL teacher certifications from 17% to 50%
Fully complying with regulations for the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee, a state-mandated committee to oversee bilingual programs
Looking ahead
Trustees will use this information to help create their board priorities and goals, which they will work on soon, Board President Kristin Tassin said.
