Bridging the Gap

As demand for bilingual instruction increases, school districts do their best to supply teachers

ARLINGTON – Nidia Prego’s third-graders file into their Berry Elementary classroom, chattering and giggling before they recite the Pledge of Allegiance as the principal’s voice sounds over the loudspeaker.

Then Prego’s students say the pledge again – this time in Spanish.

” Una nacion, bajo Dios, indivisible, con libertad y justicia para todo,” they finish in unison.

“We repeat it in Spanish so they can know exactly what they are saying,” said Prego, one of the Arlington school district’s 157 bilingual teachers. “It’s important that you’re teaching them concepts in their native language.”

Area demand for teachers, such as Prego, who can prepare Spanish-speaking children for a future in an English-speaking society continues to rise as the Hispanic and immigrant student populations grow. But bilingual teachers are in short supply.

“I wish someone had a magic wand to produce bilingual teachers four-fold,” said Gilda Evans, the district’s bilingual education director. “Then we would be in better shape.”

In Arlington, about 23 percent of the school district’s 59,000 students are Hispanic. About 4.5 percent of the district’s students are enrolled in bilingual classes this year, up from 3.6 percent two years ago.

Arlington will open four new schools in the fall – three elementaries and one junior high. And while the district’s personnel office is uncertain how many bilingual teachers will be needed for those schools, administrators are certain they will need more than they now have.

Other area districts are feeling the pinch.

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw officials entered the bilingual teacher market for the first time this year, and have found only one of the 12 teachers they expect to need to fully comply with state regulations.

“Our problem is small compared to some areas,” said David Ramsey, associate superintendent for the northwest Tarrant County district. “But the search is just as tough. There is no way in the world we will be able to get 12.”

The Fort Worth school district, by comparison, has about 20,000 students classified as having limited proficiency in English. About 98 percent are Mexican; others are from Central America, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bosnia and other countries. About 5,500 of the 20,000 receive bilingual instruction.

In bilingual classes, teachers instruct both in a specific foreign language and in English. The goal is to keep non-English speakers current in their studies as they gain English language proficiency.

In Arlington, bilingual classes focus on students from kindergarten through sixth grade and are offered only for Spanish-speaking students.

Students who speak languages other than English are enrolled in English as a second language classes, in which all instruction is conducted in English. ESL classrooms often have students who speak a variety of languages.

“The goal of either method is to get the kids to think and speak fluently in English as rapidly as possible,” Superintendent Mac Bernd said.

The district’s bilingual/ESL program is second only to special education in expense, but is growing quickly.

“Special education is still by far the most expensive,” said Steve Brown, associate superintendent of finance. “But what we’re seeing is that the bilingual/ESL costs are increasing at a faster rate.”

As of Aug. 31, 1999, Arlington had spent almost $10 million on its bilingual and ESL programs. By Aug. 31, 2000, expenditures exceeded $13 million and by Dec. 31, 2000, the district had another $3 million in costs.

Communicating needs

To graduate from bilingual or ESL classes and move into the regular student body, students must pass an oral language proficiency test and be evaluated by a campus Language Proficiency Assessment Committee.

The committee includes at least one teacher, a parent and an administrator who examine the student’s Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test scores and review comments and recommendations from the student’s bilingual teacher.

Maria Martinez’s daughter, Adriana, sits on a multicolored rug for story time in Prego’s class. This is English-only time, and Prego reads Tomas and the Library Lady, a book about a boy whose parents were migrant workers.

One student struggled to express his thoughts in English and asks for assistance in Spanish. A classmate who thought he was faking told Prego: “He’s speaking in Spanish, but he knows English.”

Martinez, who speaks limited English, said finding a school district with bilingual education was an important factor in her family’s decision to move from Guanajuato, Mexico, to Arlington 10 years ago.

“I know people who put their children in English-only classes, and now their children can’t communicate effectively in Spanish,” Martinez said through a translator. “My daughter is able to communicate in both languages.”

Recruitment efforts

Under Texas law, if a school district has at least 20 students in a particular grade level who speak the same language, but speak limited English, that district must offer bilingual education in the students’ native tongue.

By law, Arlington should offer bilingual classes in Vietnamese and Arabic. But the district has not been able to recruit teachers who speak those languages and has sought state waivers from the requirement, administrators said.

When a district is unable to offer bilingual education in certain languages, it must prepare a detailed report for the Texas Education Agency, said Marcelo Cavazos, associate superintendent of instruction. Teacher aides who speak the needed languages help bridge the gap, officials said.

The state reports must include the number of students in need of such programs at each campus, as well as the district’s recruitment efforts.

Bilingual teachers must first be certified to teach elementary-level classes, a process that includes rigorous testing.

“After that, you have to take a Spanish oral test and have a high proficiency level,” said Evans, the bilingual director. “You must also have high proficiency in English so you can teach it to children whose native tongue is not English.”

In 1999, Arlington took advantage of California’s decision to disband public school bilingual programs by sending a recruiting team to the Orange County area to scout displaced teachers. The effort netted three recruits.

Districts also use bonuses to lure bilingual teachers. Arlington pays a $3,000 signing bonus to certified bilingual teachers. Fort Worth pays $2,000.

To retain such teachers, Arlington began a Bilingual Academy a year ago and an ESL Academy this year. The programs award teachers $750 for completing a 35-hour course. The two academies this year have 75 participants, more than twice the number from last year, Cavazos said.

Prego finished the academy before spring break last year and became certified as a gifted and talented teacher through the seven-month course. She could have opted for courses on teaching strategies, techniques or other topics.

“We have students who are particularly bright in Spanish, so we need to be able to identify them early on,” she said. “Students need to know they don’t have to be ashamed of their language because this is who they are.”

Staff writers Anita Baker and Michelle Melendez contributed to this report.



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