Abstract
Spanish-English dual immersion (DI) programs can help bridge the academic achievement gap between Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) and native English speakers. However, for DI programs to help ELLs, both teachers and parents/guardians need to be aware of their existence and long-term benefits. This case study examined under-enrollment in a Spanish-English DI strand program at a predominately Latinx neighborhood school with a sizable Spanish-speaking ELL population. The case study school faced challenges of transience, limited human and financial resources, and misinformation. Both parents and teachers reported a lack of information to make educational choices and recommendations. School employees built bridges between the school and parents by standardizing the introduction of DI at kindergarten parent-teacher conferences, improving the DI open house, and engaging the efforts of the school's bilingual secretary. Recommendations are provided for increasing parents' and teachers' access to accurate information regarding DI in accessible formats.
TopBackground
What is Dual Immersion?
Educators designed DI as a form of additive bilingual education (Lessow-Hurley, 2013) by promoting full bilingualism and biliteracy in both languages (Gomez & Cisneros, 2020; McGee, 2012) and affirming students’ home cultures while developing their understanding of other cultures (Cloud, Genesee, & Hamayan, 2000). To accomplish these goals, educators expect high levels of proficiency in both English and the partner language (PL), as well as performance at or above grade level in all content areas, in both languages (de Jong, 2016). To qualify as a DI program, students must complete at least 50% of their coursework and instruction in the PL (Lindholm-Leary, 2004), and teachers should strictly separate the two languages (Crawford, 1989). Teachers present lessons in a single language without translation and all students, regardless of their L1s, are integrated for content instruction (Crawford, 1989).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Partner Language (PL): Language other than English used for instruction in a DI program. In the case of our study school, the partner language was Spanish.
One-Way DI: A DI program in which at least two-thirds of the students have the same first language (L1).
Magnet Program: A specialized program used to provide parents with choices outside of their children’s neighborhood school.
90/10 DI: Students begin by spending 90% of their preschool, kindergarten, and/or first grade instruction in the partner language. English instructional time increases with each grade level to 50% by fifth grade.
Two-Way DI: A DI program in which more than one-third of the students have a different L1 than the other students. Ideally, a two-way DI program would be composed of 50% native speakers of the partner language and 50% native speakers of English.
Normal Curve Equivalents (NCEs): This is a method of measuring where a student’s achievement on standardized testing falls along the normal curve. If a student scored 50 NCEs, then he or she would have average achievement. NCEs are used to study school performance.
Dual Immersion (DI): A program providing instruction in English and a partner language with the goal of all students developing full bilingualism and biliteracy in both languages. At least 50% of instruction is provided in the partner language for at least five years.
50/50 DI: Students spend 50% of instructional time in the partner language and 50% in English throughout the DI program.
Structured English Immersion (SEI): A program in which ELLs receive almost all classroom instruction in English, with a curriculum designed for ELLs.
California Proposition 227: Passed in 1998, this ballot initiative required California public schools to teach limited English proficient (LEP) students in classes taught almost exclusively in English. The students were supposed to stay in special classes for no more than a year. This initiative eliminated most bilingual classes.