Tag Archives: bilingual

HISD hosting Hiring Event for non-NES campus positions

The HISD Teacher Recruitment and Selection Team will host a 2024-2025 Non-NES Campus Hiring Event on Saturday, April 6, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at Chávez High School (8501 Howard Drive, 77017).

K-12 educators are invited to learn about Team HISD and the life-changing, student-centered work underway.

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Multilingual Programs Department Hosts ‘Job Alike’ Training for Staff

Hundreds of multilingual and bilingual educators gathered on Aug. 21 at Hartman Middle School for pre-service training that provided content-specific teachers and specialists with information regarding research-based instruction, best practices, classroom resources, and technology integration.

“It’s important for these teachers get together as a community, share with one another, and have a common goal and purpose,” said Dr. Higinia Torres-Rimbau, director of Bilingual/Dual Language Education at the University of St. Thomas. She was on hand to provide HISD teachers with insight into bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism. The common goal this year is to ensure that all of HISD’s 61,000 English language learners are successful, both academically and linguistically.

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Team HISD is Hiring – Early Application Deadline is March 18

HISD currently has openings for motivated teachers who are invested in making an impact on student achievement.  To attract the best candidates, we are currently accepting early applications for the 2013-2014 school year. The deadline for the early application round is March 18, 2013. We are continuing to access applications for the 2012-2013 school year.

While vacancies exist in all areas, the highest need for teachers exists in critical shortage areas including bilingual (Spanish), secondary Spanish, secondary math, secondary science and specific areas in special education.

To get started, click here and follow the directions to start your application for employment with HISD today! Candidates who apply early will have the best chance of securing contracts for the 2013-2014 school year.

For more information about a teaching career at HISD, visit the teacher recruitment page by clicking here.

New Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center to Offer Two-Way Dual Language Program

HISD’s new Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center, scheduled to open this Fall, will offer a two-way dual language program to its kindergarten class in an effort to develop full bilingualism and bi-literacy for all students.

The two-way dual language program is both an additive bilingual program for Spanish-speaking students and a foreign language immersion program for English-speaking students in which a combination of native Spanish speakers and native English speakers are taught together in the two-way classrooms.

The Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center has been designed to be a learning, innovative environment that will address the global marketplace and the need for a multilingual workforce in the 21st century. 

The center will implement this program in one of the kindergarten classes during the 2012-2013 academic year and add one grade per year until there is a complete two-way dual language program in grades K-8.

HISD currently offers the two-way dual language program at seven elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and one K-8 academy.  During the next academic year, HISD will be adding it to four more elementary schools and the new Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center (4842 Anderson Road).

Many of the schools offering the two-way dual language program are still accepting applications for the 2012-2013 academic year.  For more information, contact the Multilingual Department at 713-556-6961.

Rice School Educator Named HAABE ESL Teacher of the Year

From left, Juanita Soliz, Teresa Barton and Carmen Parra pose with their awards.

Teresa Barton, an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher at HISD’s The Rice School/La Escuela Rice, has been named the Elementary ESL Teacher of the Year by the Houston Area Association for Bilingual Education (HAABE).

Barton was selected from a field of 150 finalists from Houston, Fort Bend, North Forest, and Pearland ISDs, 27 of whom were from HISD. She advanced to the citywide competition after earning the same distinction—Elementary ESL Teacher of the Year for 2012—at the districtwide level in HISD. One of her colleagues at The Rice School, Juanita Soliz, was also named HISD’s Bilingual Teacher of the Year for 2012.

School Improvement Officer Debbie Crowe noted how unusual it was to have two districtwide honorees from a single campus. “But I attribute that to the culture of the school,” she said, “and the fabulous teaching and learning that takes place there under Principal Kim Hobbs. La Escuela Rice really caters to every child, and you can see the evidence of differentiated instruction everywhere.”

The other honoree at the district level was Burbank Middle School’s Carmen Parra, who was named HISD’s Secondary ESL Teacher of the Year for 2012.

Barton, Parra, Soliz, and dozens of other educators from the greater-Houston area were recognized on April 27 during HAABE’s thirtieth annual awards banquet.

The organization also awarded college scholarships to two local seniors: Liliana Balboa (Reagan HS) and Thu Anh Nguyen (Chávez HS).

To see a full list of honorees from HISD, please visit the HAABE website.

HISD reaches out to Hispanic community with live STAAR forum in Spanish

Panelists will be taking questions from studio audience and callers

The Houston Independent School District is reaching out to its Spanish-speaking community and familiarizing them with the new state-mandated STAAR exam by broadcasting a live STAAR Forum in Spanish on Tuesday, March 6, from 7 to 8 p.m. on HISD TV.

This live Spanish forum will provide parents and students the opportunity to ask questions and share their concerns about STAAR with a panel of bilingual experts, including administrators and school principals. The panelists will also outline the chief differences between the previous state exam, TAKS, and STAAR, and discuss the state’s recent decision giving school districts the option of deferring implementation of the requirement that high school students’ scores on STAAR end-of-course exams count toward their class grades

Viewers can participate by submitting questions through HISD’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, via e-mail to STAAR@houstonisd.org or by calling during the forum to 713-556-8901. 

What:         Live STAAR Forum in Spanish

Who:          HISD parents, students and STAAR panelists

When:        Tuesday, March 6, from 7 to 8 p.m.

Where:       HISD-TV (Comcast, Ch. 18 and AT&T U-Verse, Ch. 99) and online at www.houstonisd.org/HISDTV.