E D U C A T I O N
BILINGUAL
EDUCATION Brownsville ISD Making Learning Easier for Bilingual Students
RGVISION MAGAZINE
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MAY/JUN 2023
b y Jo a nney U t h e | p h ot os b y J a m e s H or d Forty percent of the student population in the Brownsville Independent School District (BISD), approximately 15,000 students, are emergent bilingual students. These students include recent immigrants to our country and children starting school from non-Englishspeaking homes. Emergent bilingual students within BISD speak 14 different languages, with the majority speaking Spanish. “Our students are everywhere,” said Carlos Olvera, Director of Bilingual Education. “They are in athletics, UIL, Special Education, CTE, Dyslexia, GT, etc. We collaborate with many different departments within the district.” The Bilingual Education Department’s primary purpose is to provide supplemental instructional resources to the
various campuses within the district. This can be in the form of materials or strategies that the teacher can use to help emergent bilingual students in their classroom. It also includes helping teachers better utilize these strategies and understand the challenges of their students through Professional Development and Consultants. Students entering Pre-K or elementary with little or no English participate in BISD’s Transitional Bilingual/ Early Exit Program. The teacher provides instruction in the student’s primary language, with no more than 80% of the instruction being in Spanish and the rest in English. Students transition into increased teaching in English until they meet the criteria to exit the bilingual program. “The criteria to exit bilingual education is that they
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