Multilingual Education

Texarkana Independent School District's multilingual educators are dedicated to developing language and content in English and other languages while supporting and encouraging the development of the student's first language through strong programs and research-based pedagogy.

We ensure equal access to meaningful, stellar programs for students, staff, parents, and guardians to help students reach their full potential as confident, productive, and competent members of our multicultural society. Additionally, we ensure the consistent implementation of research-based best practices and work collaboratively to develop highly trained staff to move students along the continuum of language and content to provide an exemplary education.

Students whose first language (L1) is a language other than English and identified as an English Language Learner (ELL) per assessments are called Emergent Bilinguals. 

TISD identifies Emergent Bilinguals through an Oral Language Proficiency Test (grades PK-12), Reading Norm-Referenced Test (grades 2-12), and Language Norm-Referenced Test (grades 2-12) to determine language proficiency in English and Spanish, when applicable. If a student meets Emergent Bilingual identification criteria, the student's Parents/Guardians will be offered student participation in a Bilingual program up to 5th grade if their first language is Spanish, or an ESL program, in grades Pre-K-12.