Every year, a select number of students qualify for a certificate of bilingual literacy; this year, a record number of students accomplished this feat. Seventy-seven students qualified for the program, and of those, 44 finished.

The English Language Development teacher, Thomas Griffin, described the steps towards achieving bilingual literacy.

“The first step is the score on the CELD (California English Lamguage Development) test. It tests four areas: reading,  writing, speaking, and listening. They have to be [either] advanced or early-advanced across those areas. Then, they need the approval of their English teacher, they have to succeed on an oral language test, and then on one more reading and writing test that we do here. If they do well on all those, and the counselor, the resource teacher, and the principal agree, then they’re good,” said Griffin.

The success of this program can be accredited to a combination of efforts by specific classes, teachers, and the students themselves. Griffin plays a vital role in encouraging the students and setting aside his time to assist them; nonetheless, he defers the credit to all of the teachers who entered the students’ lives.