CANYON, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Officials with West Texas A&M University recently announced that a group of professors and student research assistants are partnering with an Amarillo Independent School District elementary school to study multilingual education.

According to a news release from West Texas A&M University, San Hwang, a professor of education at the university, Janet Hindman, an associate professor of educational leadership at the university, along with student research assistants, are observing fifth-grade students at Eastridge Elementary for 10 weeks, seeing where enhancements in curriculum instruction can be made.

Hwang said in the release that Eastridge was chosen because of its location as well as its being a school that serves students who speak nearly 40 languages. The overall study was made possible through a $5,000 award from the Richard and Mary West Traylor Research Grant from the university’s Center for Learning Disabilities.

“Our research assistants will be in the classrooms, supporting Eastridge teachers as they execute their high-quality, research-based curriculum,” Hindman said in the release. “That will help us to measure the multilingual students’ growth and see which students need the most help.”

Officials at Eastridge also expect having more adults in the room will have an “immediate impact” on students at the school.

“By having two more adults in the room helping students in class and after school,” Eastridge Principal Genie Baca said in the release, “the students will have more opportunities to practice their discourse and written skills in English and improve their confidence.”

The research assistants are expected to spend “several hours two days a week” in the elementary school’s classrooms, observing the teachers’ work and then working with smaller groups. The release said these observations are expected to help the professors learn more about the challenges of multilingual students.