D&D School Profile

PS 24 is a new (three-year old) PK - 5 school with 943 students in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Thirty-one percent of its students are ELLs; most of these are Spanish-speakers. It has been designated as a bilingual demonstration site for the New Standards in collaboration with the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh.

PS 24's dual language program has been developed to meet the needs of Latino students with a wide range of abilities in both English and Spanish. Students whose "best" language may be either Spanish or English study together and receive instruction in both Spanish and English. The goal of the program is biliteracy. PS 24 also offers pull-out ESL instruction for speakers of other languages and Spanish as a Second Language for its classes of monolingual English speakers.

PS 24's after-school program includes a peace program, homework help and recreation, tutoring in math, literacy in English and Spanish, an Arts program and ESL through technology. Parents are active in the school-based planning council as well as in the PTA. Special programs for parents include curriculum conferences, workshops on the new standards, Family Math, Family Literacy, a Parent Institute as well as a partnership with LINC (Literacy Incorporated). The staff participates in on-going professional development as well as action research, focused on the improvement of instruction for all students.

In 1999, PS 24's English language learners outperformed their peers throughout the city in attaining proficiency in English (27%) and making mandated gains in English language acquisition (67%). They also made significant improvements in their Spanish reading from 1998, to match or surpass the city-wide average.