Rewarding excellence in language skills
September 6, 2024
At Cleburne High School in Texas, nearly 50% of the student population speaks more than one language, and many of the students enter the district with English as a second—or even third—language. Ms. Ruth Rios-Lopez, an emergent bilingual lead liaison at the school, is enthusiastic about helping her emergent bilingual students excel at the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) test, which requires all English learners to test every year until they reach English proficiency. After completing the exam, each student receives an annual report about how their language skills have progressed, and educators can use this information to create an education plan tailored to that student.
Rios-Lopez understands her students’ ambitions, but because this test is not required for graduation, her students, who are already navigating other requirements as they plan for their futures, might not prioritize passing the exam. To help motivate her students, Rios-Lopez designed an incentive program that rewards them for their hard work.
“The goal of the incentive program is to encourage students to step up one or as many proficiency levels as possible in each domain of the test: speaking, listening, reading and writing,” said Rios-Lopez. “Many of these students face the challenge of becoming proficient at a second language by choice, but some have to out of necessity. I hope this program will help more students overcome challenges.”
A grant from the Horace Mann Educators Foundation will help fund the incentive program. Horace Mann agent JD Cashion nominated the school for the Horace Mann Educators Foundation’s EmpowerED grant program which awarded $2,500 grants to 10 nonprofit, education-related organizations countrywide.