User:Bakkenfly/sandbox

The initiation of dual immersion programs in the United States is characterized by the coalescence of local politicians and community members. Coral Way Elementary, a K-8 school in Dade County, Florida, is cited as the first two-way bilingual school, beginning in 1963. The program was started by Cuban citizens who were seeking refuge in Florida from the Castro regime and believed that their children would eventually return to Cuban schools. (add) Fourteen more dual language bilingual schools were started in Dade County during the 1960's. The Ecole Bilingue, a French/English school in Massachusetts, was formed around the same time. In 1968, the passing of the Bilingual Education Act served to address the reality that Limited English Proficient(LEP) students were in need of proper instructional support to achieve academic gains and, in turn, provided federal funding for primary language instruction in local school districts. The Lau v. Nichols ruling of 1974 further affirmed a student’s right to educational opportunity via appropriate instructional services (Calderón, 2000). Schools were now charged with the mission to implement programs suitable to the needs of their language minority students.

Full immersion (90/10) programs typically begin literacy instruction for students in kindergarten and the first grade in the partner language and add formal literacy in English in second or third grade. Students do not need to relearn how to read in English since teachers help them transfer their literacy skills from one language to the other. Other 90/10 programs separate students by native language and provide initial literacy instruction in the native language, adding second language literacy by second or third grade. In partial immersion or 50/50 programs, initial literacy instruction is either provided simultaneously in both languages to all students, or students are separated by native language in order to receive initial literacy in his or her native language. (add) Students recieve their literacy instruction in their native language and once students are in second or third grade they are provided with the second language literacy instruction.

There is currently no research indicating that one method is preferable to another, but some research indicates that students who spend more time in the partner language do better in that language (Howard, Christian, & Genesee, 2003; Lindholm-Leary, 2001; Lindholm-Leary & Howard, in press) and that language minority students (in the US, those whose native language is not English) do better academically when their native language is supported and developed (Thomas & Collier, 1997; 2002). (add) There is success in students of diverse backgrounds, as dual language programs can promote better academic succes for students that could be considered at risk.