Rachel Carson Elementary, Transitional Bilingual Education

District 299, Region 5, Illinois

A pre-K through 8th grade urban school with 1100 (92%) Spanish speaking background students. It has a transitional bilingual Spanish program and a dual language pre-school program. The school as a whole serves the Spanish background students and their community. The principal and a number of staff members are bilingual. The arts are used to enhance academics, build community, and provide a multicultural environment.

The Rachel Carson is a bicultural school with a transitional bilingual education (TBE) program and a pre-school dual language program. Although only 40% of the students are enrolled in TBE, most of the ancillary staff, music, gym, computers, and language arts teachers are bilingual and are able to effectively teach all Carson students and communicate with their parents. About 80-90% of Carson's parents prefer to interact in Spanish.

School Leadership and Climate
The principal, a bilingual educator herself, serves as a leader and facilitator of the various staff and parents' committees in charge of curriculum planning and instructional innovation. The School Improvement Plan, designed by teachers, the principal, and parents, steered the school into its path of success. The principal established links with the local library, museums, and other educational and civic organizations to secure support for school programs.

The Multilingual Committee meetings are well attended by parents and community members. Outside professionals provide information to the committee in relation to such matters as health, child rearing, discipline, and improving learning for students.
Respect is an important element of students, staff, and community relations. Staff, parents, and students share responsibility in resolving conflicts and problems. Parents have organized a patrol to insure students' safe passage to the school.

Curriculum and Instruction
The students at the Carson School all learn through various approaches, modified pacing, and individual techniques. Integration of the fine arts into the curriculum has shown the effects of exposing students to the visual and performing arts on achievement in other curricular areas.

The Carson's bilingual classrooms are well-stocked with English and Spanish books. Class time is devoted to reading daily in the form of independent reading and teacher read-alouds. The school has recently adopted the Houghton Mifflin series Invitaciones and Invitations (Grades K-5), which is now used by both bilingual and English-only classes. This series contains a transition component and allows bilingual and English-only classes at the same level to study similar literature, themes and skills.

The Carson School has used the resources of Urban Gateway Program to provide students with artist-in-residence to various classrooms, performances from a variety of troupes for the entire school, and admission to concerts, symphonies, and theater performances.

An after school "Arts Lab" allows teachers to work with small groups of students of mixed ages and language abilities while experimenting with learning. The curriculum integrates drama, music, and art with language arts. Each lab consists of two teachers (bilingual and mainstream), an artist, fifteen students and sufficient time for professional reflection. The project has produced promising results and will be expanded over the next three years thanks to an Annenberg Grant and teaching assistance from a local non-pofit arts organization, Whirlwind.

The Carson School strongly promotes cultural awareness throughout the school year. Examples of some programs all Carson students participate in are: "Cinco de Mayo" Cultural Awareness Programs (developed by staff, students, and parents), Urban Gateways Program and Artist in Residence Program (enables students to experience different cultures), Pen Pal Programs (with Lithuania and Japan), and cultural arts programs presented by parent volunteers. The school has hosted teachers from Japan and Spain who have shared their culture with students.

Connections with Parents and Community
All communications, newsletters, reports, and Local School Council meetings and minutes are done in English and Spanish. Staff members make an effort to communicate students' progress and expectations to both parents and students.

Carson School offers a variety of workshops and classes for parents including English as a Second Language and preparing for citizenship. City resources, such as job counseling, community policing, and the local park district programs, are regularly introduced to the families. Each group of grade level teachers offers a mini-course to assist parents with homework and child development issues.

Professional Development
Teachers design and implement staff development activities. The team plans the budget and help teachers chose appropriate classroom activities. A mentoring program co-sponsored by the University of Illinois, Chicago, allows senior teachers the time and expertise to instruct new staff. Weekly faculty meetings and grade level meetings maintain communication among staff members and allow for monitoring and prompt attention to programmatic needs. A grant made it possible for the bilingual lead teacher to study Spanish children's literature in Madrid, Spain. Teachers school-wide attend reading seminars to discuss books (both adult and children's literature) with teachers from across the city.

[Top] 

Program profile

The school:

Number of students: 1200
Grade levels: Pre-K to G8

The bilingual program:

Start date: September 1, 1991    
Number of students: 500
Bilingual program grade levels:

[Top] 

Student outcomes

Languages of assessment:

Reading 
Comprehension  Gr. 3  Gr. 4  Gr. 5  Gr. 6  Gr. 7  Gr. 8   
1996               3.3     3.9     5.0     6.1     6.7     8.3
1997               3.4     4.0     5.4

Math           Gr. 3  Gr. 4  Gr. 5  Gr. 6  Gr. 7  Gr. 8   
1996               3.9      4.5     5.1     6.6     6.7    8.1
1997               3.6      4.7     5.5

1996-97  
Grade 3 scores:
         Reading(0-500) Mathematics(0-500) Writing(6-32)

School          216                 255                18.0
District        177                 225                16.7
State           246                 288                18.6

Grade 4 scores:
         Science(0-500) Social Sciences(0-500)

School          187                 189
District        179                 180
State           250                 258

[Top] 

Community response to the program

[Top] 

Program funding

[Top] 

Contact information

[Top]

THE EDUCATION ALLIANCE at Brown University
Program: The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory

222 Richmond Street, Suite 300, Providence, RI 02903-4226
Phone: 401/274-9548 | 800/521-9550 | FAX: 401/421-7650 | TTY: 800/745-5555