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      Supporting Families

      Environments with little or no sense of welcome or acceptance lead to conditions where community members feel disconnected and marginalized. Unknowingly, some Catholic schools exhibit what has been described as a “chilly climate” when hosting Hispanic families. Study respondents reported a number of programming efforts designed to create responsive school cultures and enhance enrollment among Hispanic families. Targeted programs to intentionally create a sense of community for Hispanic families are cited as a desired strategy. One principal reported: “The school for its part needs to work on providing a culturally welcoming environment and move Hispanic parents into positions on the school board and parent guild that give the Hispanic population a voice in the school.” Another principal shared: “At our school we have started a Spanish PTO.…” Other respondents refer to positive responses to personal invitations, presenting information in Spanish and English, and being and speaking at Spanish Masses.

      When asked directly about support for Hispanic families and the provision of bilingual materials, the responses varied. Overall, schools reported providing bilingual liturgies (21%), second-language classes for families (7%), and other initiatives (14%). These other initiatives included: prominent school signage displayed in Spanish and English; hosting Hispanic religious and cultural celebrations on occasions such as the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Día de los Muertos, or Cinco de Mayo; international/Spanish masses; specific parent programs such as parent teacher organizations in Spanish. Respondents were also asked if a language-development program was provided for families for whom language is a barrier. Some variations of these programs are offered at 31% of respondents’ schools. Other school leaders indicated that the school offers language-development programs through their affiliated parish, but not directly by the school.

      Clearly, based on these examples, there are sincere intentions to create more inclusive environments; however, they appear to be in only a small percentage of the responding schools. Since a key defining characteristic of Catholic education is to create educational communities of persons and genuine communities of faith,³⁴ these findings reinforce the need to actively welcome more Hispanic families into Catholic schools and to collaborate with them to achieve genuine intercultural community.

      TWIN-CS

      Two-Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools

      TWIN-CS is a major initiative profoundly transforming how Catholic schools serve culturally and linguistically diverse students. Former monolingual schools recognize today that bilingualism is an asset and acknowledge that the Two-Way Immersion (TWI) model provides an opportunity to “reflect the values of Catholic social teaching, emphasizing human dignity, the common good, and a preferential option for the marginalized.”³⁵

      TWI education aims at achieving the following three goals:

      1. Academic excellence

      2. Bilingualism and biliteracy

      3. Cross-cultural appreciation³⁶

      Student populations are balanced among students whose native language is English and those whose mother tongue is the paired target language, typically Spanish. Students are grouped together, simultaneously building content knowledge while developing bilingualism and biliteracy.

      Boston College, through the Roche Center for Catholic Education in the Lynch School of Education, launched TWIN-CS in 2012 with 11 member schools. Today 17 schools located in 11 states are part of the network, constituting 94% of all TWI Catholic schools in the United States.

      Led by a design team of Boston College faculty, Roche Center professionals, and doctoral students, TWIN-CS schools have introduced a bilingual classroom to a new grade level each year. School-based implementation teams of faculty, administrators, and parents lead the school-level conversion, supported by the BC Design Team operating as the connecting hub. School teams receive extensive professional development, including an annual weeklong Summer Academy, webinars, and an experienced local professional to serve as a mentor. Mentors are local university faculty or current administrators in bilingual schools and become key school partners for the journey.

      During the academic year 2014–15, more than 900 students in 18 U.S. cities attended Catholic schools designed to achieve the TWI goals. TWIN-CS member schools have reported on average a 13% growth in enrollment over the last two years.

      TWIN-CS Schools in This National Study

      Ten TWIN-CS schools participated in this study and their responses clearly stand out, especially in two key areas: assessing school culture and stewardship strategies.

      Beyond offering a dual-language program, all of these schools cultivate an environment that integrates Spanish language and Hispanic identity. Prayers are written and shared in Spanish, prominent school signage is displayed in both Spanish and English, and school liturgies and prayers reflect and embrace Hispanic culture. In comparison, only 35% of respondents in non-TWIN-CS schools write and share prayers in Spanish and only 21% display prominent school signage in both languages.

      Compared to schools not in the network, TWIN-CS schools enroll a higher number of Hispanic students and employ a larger percentage of instructional staff who self-identify as Hispanic: 44% of full-time and 33% of part-time teachers in these schools are Hispanic. Only 12% of full-time and 13% of part-time teachers in the responding schools not affiliated with TWIN-CS self-identify as Hispanic. All TWIN-CS schools are intentionally committed to improving their staff’s ability to communicate in both English and Spanish. Six of the 10 in this study employ targeted recruitment for bilingual staffing.

      The majority of TWIN-CS schools have structures in place to recruit students and provide financial support for those admitted. Seven out of 10 have an enrollment plan and all the schools independently provide need-based tuition assistance. Half reported that Hispanic families also receive non-need-based tuition assistance or scholarships. Additionally, nine of 10 provide support for Hispanic families who want to apply for financial aid. The majority of students in these schools receive some form of tuition assistance, which points to the commitment of these institutions to serve the most needed while running successful operations.

      The Difference that TWIN-CS Schools Make

      St. Matthew School in Phoenix, AZ

      St. Matthew School in Phoenix, AZ, a vibrant institution since 1943, was at a crossroads in 2009: facing only 159 students, closing was a real possibility. Most students were Latino, mirroring the population of the neighborhood, city, and region, but the school was not serving them well. Gena McGowan, the principal, recognized the need for programmatic change. After major discernment, St. Matthew became a two-way immersion (TWI) school. Three things changed. First, all students would learn to read, write, and speak in both English and Spanish. Second, an innovative instructional structure for developing students’ academic content knowledge would be developed.

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