ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — 8th graders earning college credit before entering high school at Two-Way Language Immersion at Barbour K-8 are seeing success.

“As of right now, we’re averaging about 53%, 54% of our kids earning 12 credit hours prior to entering high school, and the other roughly 43%, 44% get six hours of credit,” said principal Julio Lopez.

At Barbour, students who start in kindergarten and progress through to 8th grade become proficient in both English and Spanish. Three years ago, the school introduced the College Level Exam Program, which allows 8th graders to take a test that earns them college credit in Spanish.

“We pride ourselves that it’s a team effort from kindergarten to 8th grade, it’s the work that they’re doing where now they understand that learning both language

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