These programs improve the quality of many lives and research indicates they will pay for themselves many times over. Each of the new projects will involve area school districts, and one will include community colleges. Academic knowledge develops from what children bring with them in the first language, in our case Spanish. Bilingual education programs then help children to make English more comprehensible especially when they hear or read it.
Literacy develops from the language the child knows then quickly transfers to the second language.
School districts working with SHSU's master's degree program in counseling include Aldine, Cypress-Fairbanks, Deer Park, Houston, Katy, Klein and Spring Branch. Bruhn said that between 1990 and 2020 estimates indicate that 2.2 million new Hispanic residents will make them the largest ethnic group in Texas. Traditionally, Texas Hispanics have had lower achievement levels and graduation rates in the public schools than Anglos. Persons such as bilingual counselors who can speak and understand the language and culture of these students can facilitate a better school learning environment. Also, it is hard to effectively counsel in a language different from the emotional language, that was used in the first five years of life.