Dual Language Initiative

  • MEMORANDUM

     

    TO:                  Members, Board of Education

                           

    FROM:            Sharon L. Contreras, Superintendent

               

    DATE:             May 18, 2018

     

    RE:                 Dual Language Initiative

     

     

    Staff will provide a report on a Dual Language Initiative at Allen Jay Elementary and Hunter Elementary Schools scheduled to begin in the 2018-2019 school year.  The initiative is designed to address two Strategic Plan 2022 Goals:

     

    Goal IV: To increase by 50 percent the number of schools that exceed growth (currently 32.5 percent).

     

    Goal V: By 2022, decrease the achievement gap between black and Latino students and their white peers by 7 percentage points.

     

    According to longitudinal research, English learners can outpace native-English speakers year after year until they reach grade level in their second language, when they are schooled in a high quality enrichment program that teaches the curriculum through their primary language and through English (Collier & Thomas, 2013).

     

    After program evaluations are completed, administration will present options for consideration of expansion to other schools with similar demographics.  Dual language programs already exist in many large districts throughout the country including Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Palm Beach, and Seattle.

     

     

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