\n Exterior of the Fort Worth Independent School District Service Center building in Fort Worth, Texas. <\/p>\n
Fort Worth ISD is shifting language services for students learning English after closing International Newcomer Academy in June, a move that comes as language-support students now make up about 42% of district enrollment.<\/p>\n
The state-run district\u2019s new model moves support for newcomer and emergent bilingual students away from a centralized academy and closer to neighborhood and comprehensive campuses.<\/p>\n
District leaders say<\/a> students will learn English while taking grade-level courses in reading, math, science, social studies, and other subjects alongside the broader student population.<\/p>\n The change comes under Superintendent Peter Licata as Fort Worth ISD continues restructuring under state-appointed leadership.<\/p>\n English-Learner Population Grows<\/strong><\/p>\n Fort Worth ISD had 29,555 emergent bilingual and English learner students during the 2024-25 school year, representing about 42% of the district\u2019s enrollment, according to district data reported<\/a> by the Fort Worth Report. That figure was up from about 34% five years earlier.<\/p>\n The district also reported enrolling 5,401 immigrant students in 2025, compared with 2,455 in 2020, according to the report. The federal \u201cimmigrant student\u201d category refers to students ages 3-21 who were not born in a U.S. state and have not attended U.S. schools for more than three full academic years. The category does not describe a student\u2019s legal immigration status.<\/p>\n At the same time, Fort Worth ISD reported employing 787 bilingual or English-as-a-second-language teachers in 2025, down from 870 in 2020, according to the report.<\/p>\n Families reported a range of home languages in district survey data, including English, Spanish, Swahili, Dari, Pashto\/Pushto, Kinyarwanda, Farsi\/Persian, Arabic, Burmese, and French.<\/p>\n Parents Question Transition<\/strong><\/p>\n The transition has raised concerns among some parents whose children attended International Newcomer Academy.<\/p>\n Liz Orozco, whose 14-year-old son Andrew Garcia has been in the United States for about six months, told<\/a> the Fort Worth Report that her son began reading and understanding more English at the academy but still struggles to speak English in class and follow a teacher\u2019s directions.<\/p>\n Orozco said she expects Andrew to attend Dunbar High School next school year after the academy\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf my son goes to the regular high school, it will be so hard for him,\u201d Orozco said in Spanish, according to the Fort Worth Report. \u201cHow will he understand a teacher?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a new country for us,\u201d Orozco said. \u201cThis is new people, new culture and the language.\u201d<\/p>\n District Defends New Model<\/strong><\/p>\n Fort Worth ISD said in redesign materials that students will receive structured conversations, clear language objectives, collaborative learning with peers, multilingual materials, lessons created by bilingual professionals and English-as-a-second-language experts, and ongoing coaching for teachers, according to the Fort Worth Report.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not removing support; we are delivering it directly where students are receiving content instruction,\u201d the district said in the materials.<\/p>\n Licata said during an April board meeting that the redesign gives students access to grade-level classrooms, electives, fine arts, athletics, extracurricular activities, and college and career readiness pathways while building language support into instruction, according to the report.<\/p>\n District leaders also said the majority of Fort Worth ISD newcomer students already attend comprehensive middle and high school campuses rather than International Newcomer Academy.<\/p>\n Experts Warn Execution Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n Education researchers told the Fort Worth Report that a campus-based model can work if schools have trained teachers, clear plans, and wraparound support.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that the district couldn\u2019t make really strong newcomer supports at the school level,\u201d University of Oregon professor Ilana Umansky told<\/a> the Fort Worth Report. \u201cBut if they had really strong newcomer supports in the academy model and they\u2019re closing that down without a plan for making sure that they\u2019re going to have those supports at the school-site level, then that would raise some red flags for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Elizet Kneisler, a University of Texas at Austin professor whose work focuses on bilingual education and dual language programming, also questioned whether the district can prepare campuses quickly enough.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t create a transition plan just in the summer,\u201d Kneisler told the Fort Worth Report.<\/p>\n