Two-minute impact
Moreno, who has worked in TISD for 13 years, was named the district’s new director of multilingual programs in June, according to a June 10 news release from TISD. Prior to earning her new role, Moreno was an assistant principal at Tomball Intermediate School.
Moreno also helped launch TISD’s Two-Way Dual Language Academy, which teaches native English and native Spanish speakers core subjects in both languages at Rosehill Elementary, according to TISD.
In April 2023, TISD’s board of trustees approved an expansion of the program to fifth and sixth grade students at Tomball Intermediate School, according to an April 2023 district news release. The program is being piloted for fifth graders for the 2024-25 school year, which began Aug. 13.
On July 17, Community Impact spoke to Moreno about her plans for her new role, the two-way dual language program and more. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What made you interested in becoming the director of multilingual programs in TISD, and what experience do you have that will help you thrive in this role?
There's a lot of things that interested me about this job. I think one of them ... is that I was a multilingual student myself. I was an emergent bilingual student. And so being able to have that experience of not only developing a second language but being able to retain my own and navigate the world as a bilingual adult has been really special, and I feel like it gives me that drive to be able to provide that for kids.
Another piece of it is that in all the roles that I've served in, I'm really passionate about supporting teachers, and I think that this role, specifically this department, that's why it exists. It exists to support teachers, and it provides them what they need to meet kids where they are, to be able to balance all the things that teachers have on their plates now. ...
I feel like [my experience working in TISD] can be leveraged, because I've been able to build a lot of relationships. I'm really familiar with the programs, and ... that way [can] help foster that partnership with families and community, because there's a lot of familiar faces to interact with.
Why is this department and its multilingual programs important?
So Tomball [ISD's] vision ... reads that it's centered around preparing students that will lead in creating the future. I think we're starting to get a glimpse of that future that we're preparing them for. One of the things that's really clear is that it's going to be an increasingly globalized job market. So by providing students with opportunities to acquire second or third languages, that skill set is going to prepare them to increase their competitiveness, have those economic benefits. But then there's also research-based cognitive, social, academic benefits to multilingualism. So for many of those reasons, being able to give all kids in Tomball [ISD] the opportunity to learn a second language, I think puts them in a really good place for the future.
What do you hope to accomplish in the first year as director?
I think this first year is really focused about building trust and relationships with campus leaders, with students, with families, with teachers. One of the things I think that the team is also going to prioritize is using this year to gather feedback, to evaluate our programming and then use that to help us design next steps to continue improving. We always strive to be the destination for high-quality education, and that includes the multilingual department, and so we want to make sure that we're supporting campuses to deliver that promise.
TISD’s dual language program expanded to Tomball Intermediate for the 2024-25 school year. Are there any other campuses that the program will be expanding to soon?
The board of trustees approved the two-way dual language program expanding to sixth grade, and so [this] year, that pilot cohort starts in fifth. So those students and families will be transitioning to Tomball Intermediate, ... where that program will be housed. ... I was actually able to serve on that campus leadership team this past year, and so I can speak to the amazing educators on that campus. They're ready. They're excited.
What challenges do you expect to face in your new role, and how will you address them?
I think the biggest thing, especially working in this role with leaders, is building trust and relationships, both with campus leaders [and] with teachers, since they're the ones that are actually implementing the programs. We can design a lot of curriculum, but if we're not supporting the people that are actually delivering it to students, then we haven't accomplished our goal.
So I'm hopeful that the way that I'm going to overcome it is that I've invested 13 years in building a lot of relationships with staff. Obviously, we have new staff that I'm going to get to know and learn with, but in my time here, I've been really lucky to collaborate with amazing teachers, amazing leaders. So I feel like those investments have been made, like those relationships have been built. And so then that'll help me ... maybe with the new folks that I may not know yet.
