ESL & Bilingual Education

About the Program

South Holland School District 151 is dedicated to the educational excellence of over 1,600 students.  Our demographics are approximately 66% African American, 33% Hispanic, and 1% Caucasian.  Students that speak another language at home and are identified through our home language survey process are called English Learners (ELs) which is about 19%.  A majority of these children come from Spanish speaking homes. 

We have four schools in our district.  Taft, which is in Harvey, services our preschool through first grade students.  Eisenhower School which is in South Holland services our 2nd and 3rd grade students.  Madison School which is also located in South Holland services our 4th and 5th grade students.  Coolidge Middle School is in Phoenix and services our 6th through 8th grade students.

School District 151 strives to keep a balance between the academics and social emotional developmental needs for all of our students.  In supporting the needs of our EL population, we follow the guidelines of Title 23 of the Illinois Administrate Code 228, which refers to the Transitional Bilingual Education Program and Transitional Program of Instruction Program.  Supporting students in their native language or supporting them through English as a Second Language (ESL), keeps educational excellence accessible to all students.  Our School District also uses the English Language Development Standards, created by WIDA (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment) and is approved by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The Links below are to help parents, community members, and educators understand the following:

• What is an English Learner
• How English Learners are identified
• And how students exit the program

Parents can learn more by joining the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC).   In this group, parents will learn about the different activities and support that are available to them and their children.