Some Americans hold the misconception that monolingualism is equated with patriotism. Some see speaking Spanish, Arabic, Amharic or Vietnamese at their local grocery store as “offensive” or even “dangerous.” This sentiment is not shared around the world, where being bilingual and multilingual is not only the norm, but highly supported and championed.
Today, when violent “You’re in America, speak English” videos are filling our Facebook timelines, I’m proud to serve as principal of DC’s Oyster-Adams Bilingual School — a beacon of light for the community. A place where our students are taught to be bold, brave and bilingual. A public school where we believe, “la persona bilingue vale por dos,” and where we never make fun of an accent because it means that person speaks another language. At Oyster-Adams we empower our pre-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade students to use their bilingualism to take pride in themselves and empathize with those who are different in order to change the inequities in our world. Our students see difference as a way to build a bridge, not a wall.
And our approach is working. Over the last five years, we have committed to closing the achievement gap for our students: Black students have grown 33 percentage points in English language arts (ELA) and 35 in math; Latinx students have grown 22 percentage points in ELA and 7 in math; English language learners have grown 12 percentage points in ELA; at-risk students have grown 33 percentage points in ELA; and students with disabilities have grown 24 percentage points in ELA and 11 in math. All of our students challenge us, as their educators, to continue to raise the bar for them daily — time after time they reach that bar and then force us to go back to the drawing board to see how we can improve our program to continue to meet their needs.
We believe we can prepare our students for college and career early, and have continued to raise the bar by giving our eighth-graders the opportunity to take the Advanced Placement Spanish language exam. Our students achieved a 97.6 percent passage rate this year, and 40 students earned a university-level Spanish language credit before even starting high school. Nearly 70 percent of these students are students of color, and nearly 50 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Oyster-Adams is currently the District’s highest-performing bilingual school, public or charter, according to the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s data on PARCC results; these test scores also put us at the top of the school system’s K-8 campuses. While we are extremely happy with these results, we know that our students’ brilliance cannot be captured through standardized tests only and that real-world exposure is what matters most.
One of the oldest bilingual schools in the nation, we use a dual language immersion model — a two-way program where half of our students speak Spanish at home and half speak English at home. While courses are taught in both Spanish and English, we have offered Chinese as a third language at the middle school for the past 12 years, and will introduce it in the fourth grade this year. Our students also have the opportunity for both domestic and international programming including homestays, international exchanges and trips to China, Spain and Costa Rica in their middle school years.
Oyster-Adams educators are constant learners and unapologetic in their mission to ensure language learners and their families are well-served and taught in two languages to maximize their limitless potential. Our educators represent the best talent in the world, and I am proud that educators of color constitute a majority of our staff: 42% Latinx/Hispanic, 23% white, 2% Asian, 11% Black, and 1% mixed-race. A quarter of our faculty and staff are immigrants themselves, and it is an honor to know that one of the best schools in the city is led by hard-working immigrants and first-generation Americans.
For me personally, Oyster-Adams has served as a blessing and constant reminder of the quest for social justice. As a former English language learner, a daughter of immigrants, a student who qualified for free and reduced meals and a first-generation college student, I have never felt a need to hide who I am. Growing up in Hayward, California, however, I didn’t have many Latina professional role models and often felt very bicultural. Now, I feel honored to be in a position in DC Public Schools, where my bicultural and bilingual identity is honored and respected. Every year I get to walk by a Días de Los Muertos altar in our school lobby and see a picture of my abuelitos smiling at me as I run to my next classroom observation. I am a proud product of a bilingual public school education, I am the proud daughter of housekeepers, and I am the proud principal of Oyster-Adams Bilingual School.
Mayra Cruz — the daughter of immigrants, a native Spanish speaker and a first-generation college student — has served as principal of Oyster-Adams Bilingual School since July 2014. She began her career in DC Public Schools in 2009 as a sixth-grade English language arts teacher at Columbia Heights Educational Campus.
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Principal Cruz is a visionary leader and we are lucky to have her passion and heart at Oyster Adams.
So proud to be part of this incredible community. Thank you for your leadership Sra. Cruz!
I am so proud of you Principal Cruz! Your passion and limitless drive is mirrored by your students. As a fellow Principal, I understand the obstacles that one might face and you just keep pushing through them. Keep up the dynamic work! ¡Adelante Directora!