Spanish Bilingual Education

GBAPS Bilingual Program Mission Statement
We will empower our stakeholders by advocating for multilingual children and ensuring equitable experiences while influencing our community.


The Green Bay Area Public School District is fortunate to have a diverse student body, which has provided the opportunity for the District to offer a bilingual program. This program is offered in at Baird, Jackson, and Wilder Elementary Schools; and at Edison and Washington Middle Schools. The program includes native Spanish speaking and native English speaking students, with the goal to develop bilingual, biliterate and bicultural students.

The primary focus of the program is to ensure all students leave elementary school proficient in speaking and writing English, while also learning those same skills in Spanish. 

The program focuses on several areas:

  • developmentally appropriate literacy skills and strategies;
  • a sustainable program that includes levels of student support and certified/licensed educators;
  • both native English and Spanish speakers demonstrate English proficiency on the Forward Exam in grades 3-8;
  • literacy skills and strategies are taught in Spanish and transferred and extended during the literacy-based English language development time (otherwise referred to as paired literacy);
  • and monitoring of student success through multiple data sets.

The District’s program uses the following framework for language allocation:

  • 70% Spanish and 30% English in grades K-2
  • 30% Spanish and 70% English in grades 3-5

The framework is a guideline, empowering teachers to meet their students where they are and address their individual needs. 

Benefits of the program for native English speaking students is through the bilingual program, native English speaking students have the ability to learn to be bilingual, biliterate and bicultural, which will have significant benefits in high school, college and in their chosen careers. 

Finally, research shows that students in bilingual programs by middle school and sometimes sooner are often one grade level or more ahead of their non-bilingual peers. (Thomas & Collier, 2012)

For questions about the Bilingual Program, please contact the Bilingual Department at (920) 448-3863.

Website by SchoolMessenger Presence. © 2024 SchoolMessenger Corporation. All rights reserved.