By Annie MartinThe Daily Northwestern
Walker Elementary will close its section of the Two-Way Immersion program at the end of this school year, while sections of the program at Washington Elementary will start reserving spots for students from outside the school’s neighborhood.
The Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board approved the changes to the program in December. The changes will take effect in the fall.
TWI teachers use both English and Spanish in classes that include native speakers of both languages. In kindergarten, 80 percent of the instruction is in Spanish, but by fifth grade instructors use Spanish only about half of the time. More traditional English as a Second Language programs teach exclusively non-English-speaking students.
TWI has been very popular with English-speaking families, Bilingual Education Director Judith Yturriago said. Last year, the district had 80 spots available for English-speaking students entering kindergarten and received 144 applications.
“I think it’s a good program,” School Board President Mary Erickson said. “Part of the reason is the way it’s been accepted by parents.”
The program is currently offered at six district elementary schools, though not every school offers the program at each grade level. Washington Elementary, 914 Ashland Ave. has two TWI classrooms in each grade from third through fifth. Walker Elementary, 3601 Church St., only offered the bilingual program at the kindergarten level.
“We have to decide where the program is going to fit,” Erickson said.
Under the current system, Spanish-speaking TWI students attend schools based on attendance areas. English-speaking students with siblings in the TWI program are given priority, followed by students in each school’s attendance area.
Starting next year at Washington Elementary, half of the slots for English-speaking students will be filled by students from the school’s attendance area and who have siblings already in the TWI program. The other half of the slots will be filled by students whose families reside outside Washington’s attendance area.
Erickson said a few years ago that there was a large growth in the Latino population followed by a decline. Because of this, the program frequently moved around between schools, and many students had to switch schools.
“The only disadvantage of this program is that it’s hard to manage systematically,” Yturriago said. “It’s totally dependent on the number of Hispanic children that come in.”
According to Yturriago, test scores have increased for Latino students since the program was first implemented. But Latino students still trail native English-speakers on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test by a few percentage points.
“The TWI model has shown to be the most effective bilingual education model,” Yturriago said. “All schools are off the (No Child Left Behind) watch list except Washington, and it’s off this year because test scores for the TWI program have been so high. You never see that with ESL.”
Part of the reason for TWI’s success, Yturriago said, is that being able to use Spanish in a situation where other children are learning Spanish boosts their self-esteem.
“When Hispanic kids come here they feel marginalized in a culture where the English language is given such high status,” said Yturriago, who has been an ESL and bilingual teacher. “(In TWI) they’re experts at their own language and they feel good about themselves.”
Reach Annie Martin at [email protected].
