Alicia R. Chacón International School ( es, Escuela Internacional Alicia R. Chacón) is a K–8 school in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It is operated by the Ysleta Independent School District. Chacón has a two way bilingual education program that is intended to teach Spanish-speaking students

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and English-speaking students Spanish. Students may also take a third language; available third languages are

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, Japanese,Espino Calderón, Margarita and Minaya-Rowe, Liliana. Chapter 4: "Case Study: The Alicia R. Chacón International School." ''Designing and Implementing Two-Way Bilingual Programs''.

Corwin Press SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent business, independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California. It publishes more than 1,000 journal ...

, January 22, 2003. , 9781483351858. Start
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This confirms the presence of Chinese, German, Japanese, and Russian. French, - This source confirms the presence of French instruction. and Russian. The bilingual education program was developed to encourage speakers of one language to retain their language and to also learn a second language at the same time. This differs from other bilingual programs in Texas, where non-English speaking students are expected to learn solely in English once they achieve a certain competency in English. As of 2009 Chacón has long waiting lists of students. Nate Blakeslee of '' Texas Monthly'' argued that other Texas school districts should use Chacón's bilingual program.Blakeslee, Nate.
Dream of a Common Language. Sueño de un Idioma Común.
'' Texas Monthly''. September 2009. Retrieved on January 11, 2010.

History

The school, which opened in 1995, was named after

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

politician and judge, Alicia R. Chacón. Its two-way bilingual program for kindergarten through grade 3 opened that year as part of the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

-funded Project Mariposa ("Mariposa" means butterfly), an effort between different school districts. Each following year an additional grade level with bilingual education was established; in 2000 the school's first eighth grade class graduated.Espino Calderón, Margarita and Minaya-Rowe, Liliana. Chapter 4: "Case Study: The Alicia R. Chacón International School." ''Designing and Implementing Two-Way Bilingual Programs''.

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In 1995 the school had 352 available spaces for students. By June 25, 1995 234 places were taken.
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from newspapers.com

Curriculum

Students are expected to gain a high level of literacy in Spanish. early grades course content is primarily taught in Spanish, but in later grades English becomes the predominant language of instruction. Mandarin Chinese, German, Japanese, French and Russian were to be offered in the coursework from the school's beginning.

Student body

95% of the students are Hispanic and Latino, and the remainder belong to other ethnicities.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chacon, Alicia R. International School Public K–8 schools in Texas Bilingual schools in Texas Ysleta Independent School District schools