BRENHAM ISD TAKING STEPS TO ADVANCE BILINGUAL/ESL PROGRAM
Brenham ISD is working to improve its bilingual/English as a Second Language (ESL) program after an audit found it fell below state expectations.
On Monday, bilingual education consultant Erika Pozo Fiorilo presented the Brenham School Board with results from a bilingual program audit requested by Brenham ISD that was conducted in the spring. The audit found that of all the categories it measured for proper implementation by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), every one received a score of “Below Basic Level”.
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Brandi Hendrix said this is an important step in making necessary improvements.
The audit evaluated the program model design; staffing and professional development; instructional design of lesson planning curriculum, methods and resources; and family and community engagement. Each of the five categories contained a subset of criteria, such as literacy and content goals for program model design and recruitment and retention for staffing and professional development. All 29 subsets received a score from 0 up to 3, or “Exemplary Implementation”; in Brenham ISD’s case, all were graded at a 0.
The audit consisted of nine classroom observations, two teacher focus groups at Brenham Elementary School and Krause Elementary School, and six administrator interviews.
Since receiving the audit results in May, Hendrix said several changes have been made to the program. The biggest one is that it is now housed at Krause Elementary School instead of both Krause and Brenham Elementary. This allows for the program to be offered up to 4th grade and for each grade level—except for kindergarten—to have two teachers, a move that Hendrix hopes gives more opportunities for collaboration and making sure students are progressing.
Hendrix said Jillian Wilke, who was promoted to Krause Elementary School principal over the summer, has a background of working on a bilingual campus and should be able to help administrators better understand the program.
In addition, teachers went through extra training and staff development over the summer, and one-time stipends of $500 were given to instructors that got an ESL certification. There is now a language allocation plan in place to clarify how much instruction should be in English and Spanish at each grade level. The school district is also putting all of its documents in English and Spanish, and is working on going through and labeling all the areas in schools in both English and Spanish.
Hendrix said the scores are not a reflection on the teachers, as they did not have any direction to instruct students properly. Superintendent Dr. Tylor Chaplin followed that by saying the teachers were doing a great job, but were doing so in isolation.
Board President Natalie Lange said it was not fair to put teachers in that situation and is glad that the district is now working to set them and students up for success.
A follow-up report on the program will be presented to trustees in November.