TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple Independent School District’s Bilingual Education/ESL Department is serving a larger population and achieving greater results. The department had a chance to highlight that growth and success during a presentation to the TISD Board of Trustees during its monthly meeting on August 14th.
Temple ISD’s Bilingual/ESL program served 1,294 students during the 2022-2023 school year, an increase of 11.7% year-to-year over the 2021-2022 enrollment numbers. Students in the Bilingual/ESL department account for 11.2% of the total TISD population. The goal of the bilingual/ESL program is for students to use their primary language as a resource while acquiring full proficiency in English. TISD’s graduation rate for Emergent Bilingual students was 88 % in 2022-2023. That represents an increase from the 82% rate in 2021-2022 and that figure also tops the state average of 80%. The district’s middle schools and high school combined to finish above the state average in 14 categories on the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) during the last school year. TISD educators also earned 11 ESL teacher certifications in 2022-2023 to mark the fifth consecutive year the district reached double figures in that category. The department is also focusing on helping students exit the program through improved performance on TELPAS to help open up more CTE and extracurricular opportunities for Emergent Bilingual students.
“We have worked very hard to align Bilingual and ESL instruction with district initiatives. Instructional focus is targeted at both elementary and secondary levels,” said Connie Sisneros, director of Bilingual Education/ESL for Temple schools. “In elementary, we have implemented structured literacy and have designed our bilingual framework to increase language acquisition by teaching formal English through targeted English Language Development lessons that are introduced beginning in Pre-K. In secondary, the ESL curriculum is aligned to our reading labs, and we have embedded EB strategy training for our teachers in our middle school and high school core classes. I am proud of all the work that teachers, staff and administrators have done. We even had administrators running the TELPAS bootcamp at one of the middle schools. This made students realize how important this is since their principal and assistant principals took the time to teach them about TELPAS.”
Sisneros credits several initiatives for the growth in numbers and achievement within the department. Bilingual/ESL made a big push for English language development in middle school and high school and hosted TELPAS bootcamps to help generate excitement and awareness of TELPAS. The department also partnered with Temple College for Family Night to raise awareness of GED, ESL and citizenship classes and to highlight career pathways, continuing education and workplace literacy and also highlight TISD services and programs. The district also had five educators honored by ESC Region 12 for their work with bilingual students and programs in 2022-2023. Thornton Elementary principal Michelle Rhodes, Edwards Academy ESL Teacher Barbara Yanez-Smith, THS Emergent Bilingual aide Laura Lujan, THS ESL paraprofessional Olga Quinones and Bonham MS ESL paraprofessional Rosalva Munoz were all recognized by Region 12.
“I could not be more proud of our students, parents and staff members who have worked together to achieve these milestones,” said Dr. Bobby Ott, superintendent of schools for Temple ISD. “From students surpassing state averages in performance to TISD employees receiving regional recognition, our bilingual education program is producing exceptional learning experiences and developing English language acquisition. I am truly happy four our families and want to reassure them that we will continue to reach further.”