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Nearly 200 students enrolled in Donna ISD’s early learning program |
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The Donna Independent School District held a ribbon-cutting on Monday for its shared campus of two elementary schools.
Students in grades PreK-3 to second grade start out at M. Rivas Primary Discovery Academy. They then make the short jump over to J.W. Caceres Intermediate Discovery Academy for third through fifth grade.
The students will get to take advanced courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as agriculture and fine arts. Donna ISD Superintendent Angela Dominguez says the program was needed because there had been a decline in enrollment.
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Lubbock Frenship elementary student heading to National Spanish Spelling Bee |
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Lubbock’s Cesar Guzman of Frenship ISD will represent the Hub City in the National Spanish Spelling Bee after winning the area bee earlier this month.
It’s the fourth consecutive year a Frenship ISD student will go to the National Spanish Spelling Bee, which is set for next summer
Guzman, a Willow Bend Elementary fifth-grader, clinched first-place in the area contest, securing his spot at the national competition this summer, according to the district.
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HISD to host DREAM Summit workshop to help DREAMers achieve higher learning |
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HISD’s 2022 DREAM Summit is set for Saturday, Dec. 10, and returns to in person for the first time since 2019.
The free event hosted by College & Career Readiness in collaboration with Multilingual Education will take place from 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th Street, 77092.
The event aims to help HISD DREAMers, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients, visa holders, permanent residents, refugees, and asylum grantees learn more about the college application process and financial aid requirements.
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Teacher resignations drive teacher shortage in San Antonio |
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Erin Deason had to fill more teacher vacancies this year than she’s had to fill in any other year in her nearly two decades as principal of Jackson Middle School on San Antonio’s near North East side.
Seventeen of her teachers quit or retired at the end of last school year, but she considers herself lucky because she was able to fill 15 of those vacancies by the time school started in August.
“There are some schools that still have a lot of teacher vacancies. I’ve been lucky with it just being the two,” said Deason.
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School districts use legal loopholes to ensure classes have enough teachers |
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In Martazia Badger’s second grade classroom, there are 25 students and it’s often a tight squeeze.
“They’re used to scooting over or making room for someone,” Badger said. “As long as they’re spread out, hey, get in where you can get in.”
For grades four and under, state law sets a limit of 22 students per class, but there are plenty of ways to get around that.
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The Association of Hispanic School Administrators (AHSA), TALAS’ Houston affiliate, is a professional organization for education employees of TEA Service Region IV who are dedicated to developing and advancing school leaders that can help better the lives of students we serve. Additionally, AHSA has adopted philanthropy of supporting rising school leaders and donates upto $35,0000 in scholarships to individuals pursuing a career in education. Since our inception, AHSA has given over a half-million dollars to this cause and continues to award more scholarships each year. |
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Leadership opportunities available: |
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LAUSD’s test scores reveal large drops for Latino & female students |
As remote learning in the Los Angeles Unified School District ended in spring 2021, Liliana Madrid discovered her daughters were struggling with their math and science classes.
As a Spanish-speaking parent, Madrid had difficulty navigating prolonged online learning and finding the best ways to support her daughters Alexa Godoy and Itzel.
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What do Latino parents face when looking for a school for their children? |
In the last decade, the state has seen a 66% drop in new teacher certificates, and colleges a 70% drop in students choosing education as a major.
The education system in the United States is failing to meet students’ needs— teachers and bus drivers shortages, mental health challenges, lack of school funding, lack of diversity, to name a few, contribute to the effects of insecurity on education.
Students are expected to adjust to never-ending circumstances that affect their ability to obtain proper education in diverse settings with tools that would equip them for the real world.
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Hidden toll: Thousands of schools fail to count homeless students |
Federal law promises homeless children an equal shot at education. Many fall through the cracks.
For months, Beth Petersen paid acquaintances to take her son to school — money she sorely needed.
They’d lost their apartment, her son bouncing between relatives and friends while she hotel-hopped. As hard as she tried to keep the 13-year-old at his school, they finally had to switch districts.
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3 Ways to Improve Educational Outcomes for English Learners in P-12 Schools |
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Like a growing number of students in the U.S., I learned English as a second language. My parents brought me to the United States from Mexico at the age of four. I spoke Spanish as my home language and learned English through my siblings, friends, neighborhood, and schools. Throughout our educational journey, our parents never learned English and made sure we did not forget our home language.
Currently, there are more than 5 million English learners in our nation’s public school system. While there are many different languages spoken here from all over the world, the overwhelming majority of English learner students speak Spanish as their primary language (76%), with Arabic coming in a distant second (3%).
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Miguel Hernandez, the Latino Engineer Who Helped Put a Man on the Moon |
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Growing up in Cuba under the initial introduction of Castro’s Communism, Miguel Hernandez became fascinated with astronomy and space from an early age while he would flip through pages of Aviation Week, one of the few, random magazines he still had access to.
Miguel would imagine himself taking part in space travel as he rocketed through the sky in search of new worlds. The obsession continued as Miguel got older, culminating in 1962, when a replica of the first satellite to historically orbit the earth, Sputnik, arrived in Havana. 17-year-old Miguel raced to the harbor, where he stood marveling for hours at the chrome behemoth as it stood on display.
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This Week’s Featured Sponsor |
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TALAS sponsors make this newsletter and other TALAS activities possible. Please support them. Click on the logo to learn more! |
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At Imagine Learning, we believe every child deserves the chance to enjoy learning and the right to fulfill their unique potential. For more than fifteen years, our foundation has been helping students acquire, develop, and strengthen the language skills necessary to fully participate in academic settings and prepare for college and careers. Today, we provide a complete suite of adaptive digital curriculum and assessment solutions for PreK–8 that delivers unmatched excellence in language development—accelerating learning across subjects for all students. Imagine Learning is passionate about igniting engagement, maximizing personal relevance, amplifying confidence and inspiring breakthroughs for students and educators. |
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