This program will help address those needs. The U.S. Department of Education has provided grants to fund the projects. For example, currently we are providing the teacher certification and master's degree by technology to five sites and 10 school districts. About 60 percent of the students taking the courses reside in the Houston area, Lara-Alecio explained. Districts include Bryan, College Station, Belton, Temple, Waco, Galveston, Aldine, Houston, Cypress-Fairbanks and Waller.
Bilingual teachers are very much needed in Texas, which has a rising Hispanic population.
Lara-Alecio said the 2000 Census figures show that 33 percent of all Texans are Hispanic, and in the Houston area, that figure rises to 37 percent. Without providing the students and their parents with knowledgeable teachers and administrators to assist them, these individuals will not be able to acquire strong skills to be effective in the mainstream. Bilingual education provides our young children with appropriate English acquisition while preserving some of the child's native language and culture. About 85 percent of the students in the graduate portion of the project are Hispanic, Lara-Alecio noted. One additional benefit from the program is that teachers using the new distance education technology can learn those skills and take them back into their classrooms, Lara-Alecio said.