Hollister Dual Language Academy is building on nearly two decades of success by solidifying a plan that will provide a framework for the dual-immersion school going forward.
With support from the Hollister School District, the HDLA community is working with a consultant to develop a Dual Language Immersion Framework—a planning document to articulate the program’s components and how they align with the district’s strategic goals.
“It is an opportunity for the school site to get the district-level clarity about what the program is and isn’t,” said Kevin Chavez, Executive Director with ATDLE, the consultant assisting site leaders with the planning document.
That plan is referred to as a Dual Language Immersion Framework, Chavez said. The document will align with the district’s strategic actions, goals and equity statement.
The district brought on ATDLE in August when HDLA hosted a special professional development day reinforcing pillars of dual immersion education, allowing educators to start the year with foundational knowledge. The site hosted another P.D. day Jan. 5 directly connected to the Spanish language arts curriculum.
“Everyone started off the year with that foundational knowledge,” said HDLA Principal Sylvia Solis.
From there, HDLA planned out six stakeholder meetings, with the fifth one held last week.
“It’s a cross section that brings a lot of voices into the room so we’re getting a good representation,” Solis said.
Solis said part of this process is visiting classrooms to evaluate HDLA’s status relative to research principles and implementation. The principal underscored a focus on the three pillars of dual-immersion education in this endeavor: academic achievement, bilingualism and cultural competency.
HDLA will present the finalized framework document to the Hollister School District Board of Trustees in the spring. Parts of the plan may fluctuate over time, but the bulk of it should stay in place for three to five years, Chavez noted.
Site leaders recognized the need for such a formalized framework after HDLA has gone nearly 20 years without one. Those current leaders—Solis and Assistant Principals Luis Espinoza and Victoria Valadez—marveled at the school’s leadership and educators who got the site to this point.
“It was created by the principal at the time who was very well versed in dual immersion who brought in creative, passionate educators who built the program,” Valadez said. “They built it with the intent that it was going to expand. I don’t think they realized their efforts would sustain us for this long, which was amazing.”
The new leadership team is in their third year together and recognized the need for a formal blueprint, especially due to inherent challenges with a growing school. Enrollment has jumped from about 550 before the pandemic to 846 now, making it the largest school in the district.
To meet demand, HDLA expanded from two to four classrooms for each grade level. HDLA serves students in TK through eighth grade and is the only dual-language site in the district.
Site leaders noted that around the pandemic era, there were slight performance declines signaling the need to evaluate ways to strengthen the program and maintain a high level of academic excellence. One of the missing pieces was the plan under development now—which will allow for consistency and structure in the event of staff changes over time.
“We’re kind of pulling all the strings back now and trying to develop the systems to support our program schoolwide and to be able to maintain this—make it systematic—so it can be replicated hereafter,” Solis said.
HDLA remains a high-achieving campus and popular destination for local families, with a lottery for TK-K enrollment and a high retention rate, Espinoza noted.
“It’s hard to get into this school in the later years,” he said. “I think our success comes from the elementary level. We still hold our kids all the way to eighth grade.”
One aspect of the draft plan is developing clarity around the enrollment process and having it documented, Chavez pointed out. So if parents disagree, it doesn’t fall on school staff.
“We point to that North Star,” he said. “It’s articulated here.”
Also within the draft plan, the group is focusing on language acquisition and foundational components of reading.
Culture is another focus area, site leaders said while noting that events and celebrations should tie in with the multicultural theme so students have an understanding of both languages and cultures. One example of a shift was holding a Dia de los Muertos event in 2025 instead of the Fall Festival held for many years.
“And then focusing on the value—where we want every student to understand the value of bilingual education and be proud of themselves for being bilingual,” Solis said, adding how Latinos in particular can sometimes feel like they don’t belong in the school or community.
Site leaders lauded the passionate, committed teachers and families as part of the school community’s foundation of success. Solis emphasized that HDLA staff members have been supportive of developing the framework plan.
“We have a staff that’s onboard to learn and continue to strengthen the program because they want to see the students succeed,” Solis said. “We have that momentum right now. We want to capitalize on it. We want to take off and soar to the sky right now.”
