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Who We Are
The mission of Horace Mann is to teach all students to speak, read, and write in both English and Spanish through a strong standards-based curriculum taught in both languages. The vision at Horace Mann is to create confident, bilingual, and bi-literate learners who can problem-solve and be successful in the diverse world we live in.
What We Value
Our Shared Values
Horace Mann is proud of our family-oriented culture and climate, grounded in high expectations for all. Together, our staff and families work to create a warm, caring, and inclusive environment where rigorous instruction meets the needs of every student.
Our shared values are:
- Excellence: We value a culture of excellence for both staff and students.
- Expertise: We believe in maintaining expertise in our content and teaching methods to promote language acquisition and literacy in both English and Spanish.
- Language Equity: We recognize the value of both languages through equity of instructional time, access to curriculum, resources, and assessments.
- Inclusivity: We believe in creating a welcoming safe space that promotes belonging and inclusivity for all.
- Opportunities: We are committed to an effective, dual language program with meaningful opportunities for every student.
These values are reflected in how we teach, how we partner with families, and how we care for our students, our community, and one another.
What We Offer
A Two-Way Dual Language Program
Horace Mann K–8 Dual Language Magnet offers a unique two-way dual language immersion program for Wichita-area students. Through this program, students engage in a Kansas State Standards-aligned curriculum taught in both English and Spanish.
Balanced Classrooms
To support our two-way dual language model, approximately 50% of incoming kindergarten students enter with English as their primary language, while approximately 50% enter with a Spanish language background. Students in the Spanish language group bring a range of experiences and abilities. Some are Spanish-dominant or Spanish-only, while many are already emerging bilingual students who use both English and Spanish at varying levels of proficiency.
Students are thoughtfully placed into balanced classrooms based on their language strengths. This allows English-dominant students and students with a Spanish language background to serve as language models for one another.
Learning From and With One Another
This balance promotes language development by giving students daily opportunities to learn from peers with different language strengths. It also supports meaningful cross-cultural exchange, collaboration, and shared learning across both languages.
Our Goal for Students
Through our K–8 dual language pathway, students develop the ability to listen, speak, read, and write in both English and Spanish. Our goal is for students to leave Horace Mann as bilingual, biliterate, academically successful learners who are proud of the language and cultural assets they bring to our school community.
What Makes Our Dual Language Program Strong
At Horace Mann, our dual language program is guided by our Schoolwide Dual Language 5 Instructional Guide for strengthening language comprehension, biliteracy, and student bilingual outcomes.
Students experience:
- Student-centered classrooms where every child is encouraged to think, speak, read, write, collaborate, and lead.
- Strong vocabulary development through interactive word walls, print-rich and language-rich classrooms, visuals, sentence frames, and intentional bilingual vocabulary instruction.
- Bilingual pairs and teams that give students daily opportunities to learn with and from one another in English and Spanish.
- Designated language practices that honor both languages, including Spanish and English language-of-the-day expectations in common areas, and maintaining the assigned language-of-instruction for the subject being taught.
- High expectations for academic excellence so students grow as bilingual, biliterate, and confident learners prepared for future opportunities.