In Northside, we enrich the linguistic, academic and affective learning experiences for students. Every student and family grows as part of an educational community that empowers all to excel while celebrating multiculturalism. Our goal is to provide learning experiences that inspire students' confidence, curiosity, and capability.
Dual Language Immersion Two-way Bilingual Program
The NISD Dual Language Bilingual Program model in Northside is research-based. The dual language model seeks to create bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural students by developing their academic proficiency in English and Spanish.
Goal: Emergent Bilingual students attain bilingualism, biliteracy, and sociocultural competence to reach high levels of literacy and academic achievement in the partner language and English.
Instruction: Emergent Bilingual students receive instruction in literacy and academic content in their partner language as well as English from teachers certified in bilingual/ESL education. At least 50% of the instruction is delivered in the students’ primary language for the duration of the program.
Transitional Bilingual Academic Program
Northside’s Transitional Bilingual/Early exit is a bilingual program model in which students identified as Emergent Bilingual students are served in both English and the students' primary language and are prepared to meet reclassification criteria to be successful in English instruction with no second language acquisition supports not earlier than two or later than five years after the student enrolls in school.
Goal: Emergent Bilingual students utilize their primary language as a resource while acquiring full proficiency in English to participate equitably in school.
Instruction: Emergent Bilingual students receive instruction in literacy and academic content in their primary language as well as English from teachers certified in bilingual education. As the child acquires English, the amount of instruction provided in the primary language decreases until full proficiency in English is attained.
English as Second Language (ESL) Content-based Program
The NISD pre-kindergarten through fifth grade English as a Second Language (ESL) Program is implemented to support the linguistic, academic, and affective needs of Emergent Bilingual students (EBs). The ESL content-based program model is an English acquisition program that serves students identified as EBs through English instruction provided by a teacher appropriately certified in ESL under TEC, §29.061(c), using content-based language instructional methods in reading and language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The goal of content-based ESL is for emergent bilingual students to attain full proficiency in English in order to participate equitably in school §89.1210.
