Eight sixth-graders who were in the first kindergarten class at Mansfield City Schools’ Spanish Immersion School in 2008 surround Principal Jody Nash. The group includes Nakari Virden, Karmen Peterson, Azaria Avila, Reese Vaught, Julia Secrist, Brianne Blevins, Isabella Kern and Nathan Histed. Not pictured is Mickey Blankenship.
Forty-seventh among 3,311 Ohio schools.
That’s the ranking of Mansfield City Schools’ Spanish Immersion School on the list of performance index scores on the 2014 state report card.
“Forty-seventh in the entire state is something we are very proud of,” said Spanish Immersion parent Barbara Kern.
Academic achievement will be on display from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday during the school’s open house at 240 Euclid Ave.
“This is not parent-teacher conference time. It is a time for children to introduce their families to their teachers,” Principal Jody Nash said. “It’s also an opportunity for children to show the work they are doing in their classrooms.”
Students learn Spanish by speaking and reading the language in core subjects throughout the school day. English is used only during recess, lunch, music, art and physical education.
Spanish Immersion’s success is reflected in its enrollment. From an initial kindergarten class of 11 in the fall of 2008, the school now has 155 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The school opened in the Raemelton building but moved to the former Brinkerhoff site on Euclid Avenue four years ago.
The nine sixth-graders are veterans of that first kindergarten class. Among them is Isabella Kern, the daughter of Barbara and Scott Kern. The Kerns also have a fourth-grader and a second-grader at Spanish Immersion.
“It’s been challenging and fantastic,” Barbara Kern said of her family’s experience at the school. “As parents, it was very scary going into it that first kindergarten year but we had looked into it in advance. Spanish Immersion has exceeded our expectations. It has been all that we had hoped and then some.”
Nash said the school’s success is attributable in part to parents’ direct involvement.
“While students are learning Spanish at school they must learn English at home. It is very important that parents read to their children and have their children read to them,” Nash said. “Our parents do that.”
The Ohio Achievement Assessment tests in reading, mathematics and science are administered in English. Thirty-eight Spanish Immersion students – 14 each in third and fourth grades and 10 in fifth grade – exceeded the 80 percent state proficiency standard in all seven areas. Scores were 100 percent in six areas, 90 percent in the seventh.
Barbara Kern echoed the importance of developing English skills by reading at home.
“It can be a struggle to make that happen, to dedicate the time but it’s so important because that’s the only English they’re getting,” Kern said. “Of course, it’s always important for parents and children to read together.”
While reinforcing English skills, Spanish Immersion parents are directly involved in school activities. They organize and staff the annual math and literacy nights, as well as teacher appreciation and end-of-school activities.
“We have strong support from our parents. They understand the value of a second language and they work to help their children succeed,” Nash said.
Over the years parental involvement has increased with enrollment. While the upper grades reflect the early years of Spanish Immersion – nine students in sixth grade, 13 in fifth and 14 in fourth – the numbers are higher in the lower grades. There are 43 in kindergarten this year, 23 in first grade, 33 in second and 20 in third.
The school added a grade level each year and has reached its peak. Sixth-graders will move on to middle school next year.
Has Spanish Immersion achieved the vision Nash had when it opened seven years ago?
“I would say we have achieved 90 percent of that vision,” she said. “We haven’t integrated Spanish into recess and lunch and a few other areas, but that’s OK. Our students are speaking Spanish outside the classroom in other activities.
“Some of them who play soccer realized that they could discuss strategy on the field and their opponents had no idea what they were saying.”
Embassy of Spain honors Spanish Immersion School
In June the Mansfield Spanish Immersion School was added to the International Spanish Academies Network sponsored by the Embassy of Spain in the United States.
In a letter to Principal Jody Nash, Manuel Collazo, an education advisor in the embassy, said the honor “is in recognition of the high quality of your Spanish Immersion program.”
The Spanish government, in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Education, has provided teachers for the Mansfield school.