Bilingual boost

Johnston, Rodriguez schools to receive federal grant funds

Two southwest Houston schools are getting federal funding to help students with limited-English skills.

Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary School, which is set to open this summer in Gulfton, is in line to receive grants of $ 258,331 per year for five years to fund the Viaje Al Futuro/Voyage to the Future program.

Meanwhile, Johnston Middle School in Meyerland/Westbury has been selected to receive $ 154,122 per year for two years to launch the ESCUELA Program, geared to improve language proficiency for students with limited English skills.

The grants are part of $ 4 million in federal funds to Houston Independent School District earmarked for five schools by the U.S. Department of Education in support of bilingual programs.

The grant awards are subject to approval by Houston schools trustees.

“One of our goals is to have dual programs where students can speak more than one language,” said Jacel Morgan, director of multi-lingual programs at HISD. “Most of the (Title VII) grants involve combining fluent English speakers with Spanish speakers so they come out speaking both.

“When you mix people with dual languages, where one is proficient in English and the other (is proficient in) Spanish without the English, they learn from each other,” she added.

With a student population of 30,000, the Southwest District within HISD serves a population that is overwhelmingly Hispanic, economically disadvantaged and has limited English proficiency, Morgan said.

When it opens its doors in August near Hillcroft, Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary School will have a student enrollment of 1,000, providing relief to overcrowded schools in HISD’s Southwest District.

The school’s Viaje Al Futuro program will continue the benefits of the district’s Developmental Bilingual Education programs so that the students’ early academic progress will not be interrupted.

In addition to a strong emphasis on science, the new school will encourage the participation of staff, parents, local universities and community organizations toward bilingualism and biliterancy, HISD officials said.

Likewise, Johnston Middle School’s ESCUELA – which stands for “Every Student Can Understand Essential skills through quality Language Acquisition” – program is geared to maintaining steady growth in student achievement.

A recent four-year federal study found that English as a Second Language and early-exit programs produce the highest levels of achievement up to the third grade. However, those scores begin to fall over the academic years through the sixth grade, the study revealed.

The research showed that only the two-way dual language and late-exit programs showed sustained growth in achievement levels. Students in these programs scored at or above the 50th percentile after five to seven years in the program.

To that end, the ESCUELA program will provide top instruction to 250 students in a school-within-a-school setting in Spanish and English so that they they can attain fluency in two languages.

The program also will include interactive computer reading training, a Language Learning Lab to boost students’ reading comprehension and writing skills, and library resources to assist students and their parents.

Other HISD schools selected to receive Title VII grants are Burbank Middle School ($ 1.2 million over five years) and Helms Community Learning Center/Hamilton Middle School ($ 1.2 million over five years).



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