Bilingual Education

National School District
and English Language Learners

The National School District, located 12 miles from the U.S. border with Mexico, in San Diego County, serves a richly diverse student population of over 5,500 students.  The majority of the students in the district are Hispanic.  Approximately 61% of the students are English Language Learners, and the vast majority are Spanish speakers.  Our community's cultural diversity enriches learning opportunities for all our children.

Our parents and community strongly support the district's alternative bilingual education program.  Our parents have clearly communicated that they would like their children to become bilingual and biliterate.  In response to parent requests, National School District provides language and literacy programs for students through the Bilingual Program option.  Parents also have the option to place their children in a mainstream English-only classroom.

Our administration and academic staff are dedicated bilingual education leaders.  The majority of our principals speak Spanish.  The majority of  the teachers have obtained the BCLAD (Bilingual Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development) credential and/or certification that enables them to address the needs of English learners.  We support staff development through on-going professional growth opportunities in the areas of Primary Language Instruction and English Language Development (ELD).  Teachers gather monthly in grade level groups to discuss and plan for the unique needs of English learner students.