Does a student have to qualify for the bilingual program?
Yes, in a way. All students going into K with "Yes" on their Home Language Surveys are given an English proficiency screener which automatically qualifies students for the bilingual program based on the results (below a certain score). We do, however, have a lottery in which parents can request placement even if your child 'screens out' by demonstrating advanced English language proficiency. It is also highly recommended that students have sufficient proficiency in Spanish listening and speaking when coming into Kindergarten.
Is the bilingual program only offered at Northeast?
Right now we only have enough students to facilitate a bilingual program at one school. However, the district does provide transportation to and from NE school if students live in another quad.
How does the bilingual program operate?
Each class operates like any other class except they spend a varying percentage of time learning in Spanish and English. All students still attend PE, Music, Art, etc. For more specific information, see the language distribution chart for your child’s grade. Once a student is in 6th grade, he or she will attend Central Middle School. At CMS, students will have the opportunity to take an Advanced Language for Multilinguals class that focuses on English instruction but also provides exposure and practice in the home language when and where possible through 8th grade.
What is taught in the program?
We focus on literacy and content in Spanish while also giving students exposure and practice in English. The proportion of Spanish to English declines as students move from K-5th grade (addressed more specifically on the d124 Language Distribution Chart). Students have access to the same academic breadth and rigor as all other students in district 124, and we have the same high expectations for academic achievement for our bilingual students (in English and Spanish).
If there is a split class, are the children in the higher grade challenged enough academically?
Students are grouped and instructed to a significant degree based on results from progress monitoring, so each student is given the opportunity to learn and excel at a level appropriate for that student. The leadership responsibilities and higher expectations for achievement push students to perform at their best.
How many children are in a class, what is the student to teacher ratio?
The number of students per class may vary, but for 2024 Kindergarten had 10 students, the 1st and 2nd grade class had 13 students and the 3rd and 4th grade class had 10 students. While the number of students in the classes will vary year to year, bilingual classes are required to have a lower total number of students than the average class size in the school. The relatively low numbers of students per class give teachers the ability to individualize instruction. It can benefit students because students receive a lot of individual attention from the teacher and often from a bilingual paraprofessional too!
How do children in the program compare in their testing scores compared to their non multilingual peers?
Comparing the scores between these groups of students can be difficult because of the way the state processes the data and because Spanish growth measures don't always line up exactly with English ones. However, our multilingual students at NE overall are meeting or surpassing state goals for growth for English proficiency testing and are on par with or exceeding the rest of the student population on state standardized tests that begin in 3-5th grade. Research has shown over and over again that students who are enrolled in bilingual programs tend to perform on level with or outperform their monolingual peers of similar socio-economic status by the time they are in 4th and 5th grades.
