For years, Pittsburgh has been an anomaly among urban districts because of its low number of ESL students. While districts in Texas, Florida and California have swelled with immigrants, Pittsburgh enrolled only 273 ESL students in 2004-05.

A sluggish job market may have been responsible for the low numbers, Tim McKay, the ESL curriculum supervisor, speculated. Now, affordable housing and immigrants’ family networks may be fueling an increase.

The number of ESL students jumped to 485 this school year and is projected to reach 1,085 by 2010-11.

While those remain comparatively small numbers, the increase brings logistical challenges, such as the scramble to find translators to help with 30 students from Myanmar who arrived after Aug. 1. The district previously had no students from Myanmar, and the language isn’t widely spoken in Pittsburgh.