Students in Dallas ISD’s dual-language programs have to master grammar, fractions and the life cycle of a butterfly just like everyone else. But they have to do it in English and Spanish.

While they may struggle to master the academics in two languages, those students eventually outperform their peers, researchers say.

The academic expectations for dual-language students became a contentious topic in Dallas ISD recently after Anna Brining, the popular principal at Rosemont Elementary, learned she will lose her job after this school year. Brining helped start the district’s first dual-language program, which is a model for other schools.

Her supporters praise her for fostering it and helping their children excel. But that perception doesn’t jibe with reality, Superintendent Mike Miles said last month. He said the school is underperforming.

A review of scores by The Dallas Morning News found that student achievement at Rosemont trails Dallas ISD campuses with similar poverty levels.

Bob Sanborn, the CEO of Children at Risk, a Houston nonprofit group that rates Texas public schools, said recently that Rosemont should have better scores because of its dual-language program. He said dual-language students generally perform better than other students, not worse.

But researchers say otherwise. Rosemont’s results are to be expected, said Virginia Collier, who has studied dual-language and bilingual education for decades.

She said dual-language students generally achieve as expected in their native language but score below grade-level in their second language in elementary school. By middle school, the gap disappears and their scores surge past other students.

“It helps for parents to understand that. There is a recognized achievement gap in the second language, but it closes,” said Collier, a professor emeritus at George Washington University.

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