GLAD Helps Spanish-Speaking Elementary School Rise to the Top

Felipe Guzman wandered around this 4th grade class, gently guiding his students through a sentence contruction lesson in generalizations. In Spanish. And about the Spanish language.

Earlier in the day, this same class was in Christy McEachen's class, learning English construction. This lesson was reading through a short essay titled "My Dog Chewed up My Homework."

About 60 percent of the time, the students learn their lessons in English. The remaining 40 percent in Spanish. Using the Guided Language Aquisition Design, or GLAD, program out of Orange County in California, the students in Whittier Elementary in Pasco have posted some of the top reading scores in the WASL in the district.

When asked about the GLAD program, Guzman is to the point: "I like what works."

The statistics back up this blunt statement. The school's fourth graders came in at just under 70 percent passing the reading portion of the WASL. Writing, math and science...the school is still working on that. But these are great numbers given a 90 percent free and reduced lunch population, 96 percent Hispanic and 68 percent ELL.