South Whittier School District has implemented a Dual Language Immersion Program this school year that consists of a Kindergarten class at Howard J. McKibben Elementary and Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten classes at Los Altos.
In this video teachers, principals, and parents share about the program and the growth they have seen in students in the short time since the program has begun.
The Dual Language Immersion Program consists of classes that are a 90/10 two-way immersion program. Each class has the same number of native English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students. The teachers of these classes are all highly qualified and state certified to teach in two languages.
This 90/10 program model has been shown to have a strong impact on student success. Students tend to achieve higher levels of literacy in both languages and higher levels of academic achievement than those in an English-only instruction model. The model also closes the achievement gap faster and students achieve higher levels of oral language and literacy in the targeted language.
Research evidence indicates that bilingual programs, in which biliteracy is the goal and bilingual instruction is sustained, promotes literacy in English, as well as in the student’s primary language.
Watch the Dual Language Immersion Program video here: