TCSD#1 Dual Immersion Program

Why Dual Immersion in Teton County?* Large percentage of English language learners who were not

being successful on state assessments (achievement gap)

* Program began in 2009 with two sections of first grade

* Research conclusively shows that it is the most effective

program academically for ESL students.

* Meets the needs of all students, while also fulfilling the

administrative requirements of the U.S. legal system to provide

equal educational opportunity for all students.

1

National Data for English Language Learners

Copyright © 2001-2009, W.P. Thomas & V.P. Collier. All rights reserved.

Why Dual Immersion?* English learners are included in mainstream instruction and

not socially isolated from their classroom peers.

* Research-tested instructional strategies such as cooperative

learning enable diverse students to help and learn directly

from one another.

* Both language groups are equally challenged in their second

languages and can identify with each other instructionally

and emotionally.

* Friendships can develop across language and social class

barriers.

* Both language groups can be “experts” when the

instructional lesson is in their home language.

Why Dual Immersion?* Students develop high academic achievement in reading,

writing, and oral proficiency in two languages.

* Students develop positive attitudes towards themselves as

learners.

* Students develop very positive attitudes about students of

other language and cultural backgrounds and/or

* Students develop very positive attitudes about their heritage

language and cultural background.

* More English in the instructional day does NOT lead to

higher levels of English proficiency or achievement.

4

* Well documented cognitive benefits of being bilingual

Cognitive BenefitsOverall, proficient bilinguals outperform monolinguals in:

* Creativity

* Problem Solving

* Divergent Thinking

* Mental Flexibility

* Metalinguistic Awareness

* Executive Function

* Efficient Cognitive/Sensory Processing

* Visual-spatial Skills

Collier, V.P., Thomas, W.P. (2017) Why Dual Language Schooling

Language is Power!* Languages open doors and allow students to successfully access a

multilingual and multicultural world

* The majority of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual

and 75% of the world’s population does not speak English

* Demand for bilingual employees doubled over the last 5 years and

is growing faster than demand for jobs overall

* There are 23 million jobs in 50 states linked to international trade

http://dcimmersion.org/job-opportunities/

2017 RAND Study on Dual Language Program Effectiveness* Portland Public Schools (PPS) students randomly assigned to dual-language

immersion programs outperformed their peers on state reading tests by 13

percent of a standard deviation in grade 5 and by 22 percent of a standard

deviation in grade 8.

* Immersion-assigned students did not show statistically significant benefits

or deficits in terms of mathematics or science performance.

* English learners assigned to dual-language immersion were more likely

than their peers to be classified as English proficient by grade 6. This effect

was mostly attributed to English learner students whose native language

matched the classroom partner language.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9903.html

TCSD DLI Program GoalsAcademic Achievement

* At or above grade level in all content areas

Biliteracy and Bilingualism

* High levels of reading, speaking, listening, and writing

proficiency in both Spanish and English.

Sociocultural Competence

* The ability to communicate in a language appropriately,

situationally and culturally. It is the knowledge of

customs, rules, beliefs and principles of a given society.

Social JusticeEquity or justice is achieved in every aspect of society rather than

in only some aspects or for some people.

* The absence of social justice results in social oppression

* Understand the mechanisms that perpetuate

oppression--i.e., those attitudes and behaviors from a

position of privilege

* Challenge deficit thinking and make social change with

an explicit social justice agenda in schools and

communities of color.

http://www.nea.org/tools/30414.htm

Our Students

Additive BilingualismSubtractive Bilingualism

* Second language is added at the expense of the first

language and culture, which diminish as a consequence

Additive Bilingualism

* First language continues to be developed and first

culture valued while the second language is added

* Main goal of bilingual education

* Using what one knows about their first language to

support the development of a second language

Cummins, J. (1994) The Acquisition of English as a Second Language, in Spangenberg-Urbschat, K. and Pritchard, R. (eds) Reading Instruction for ESL Students Delaware: International Reading Association

TCSD Goals: Success 2022All students are proficient readers by grade 3

* Program goal of L1 reading proficiency by grade 3

* Program goal of L2 reading proficiency by grade 5

All students are proficient mathematicians by grade 3

* Increased proficiency in both languages supports growth in

math

All students are proficient writers by grade 8

* Writing in both languages begins in kindergarten and develops

throughout elementary and middle school

Every graduate will be life ready

* Bilingual, biliterate and prepared for college and/or careers

Our Data

3-Year PAWS trends - This is the amount of time that PAWS has been aligned to CC

● Hispanic Dual: N=15 ● Hispanic Traditional: N=30● Non Hispanic Dual: N= 13● Non Hispanic Traditional: N= 77

Note: All students who began in the program after 1st grade, or transferred into or out of Dual are excluded from the data set.

This reflects just one cohort of students from our dual immersion program.

2018 K-5 Parent Survey* 85% response rate

* 95% of parents would recommend our language program

to another parent.

* 72% willing to commit through 12th grade

* 85% chose DLI so their child could learn a second

language, become bilingual and biliterate

* 61% chose DLI so their child could learn from and

appreciate people from different cultures/backgrounds

Our program enjoys tremendous support from stakeholders!

Our K-5 Program Model* Based on 25+ years of Thomas & Collier research

* 50:50 Two-Way Spanish/English Immersion

* All core content areas taught in both languages

* Wyoming state standards and TCSD#1 curriculum

taught in all content areas

* Additive program-adds a new language at no cost to a

students’ native language

* Research-based instructional practices that meet the

needs of all language learners

Curriculum & Instruction* Spanish Language Arts

* English Language Arts

* Math

* Science

* Social Studies integrated into language arts

* Community

* Specials (art, music, PE, STEAM, library)

* ELD/SLD

* Social-emotional learning

Curriculum & InstructionCummins (2000) found that in over 50% of classroom interactions, students either say nothing or

supply 1-word answers.

Literacy-Based ELD/SLD & Content-Language-Literacy

* Every lesson is a language lesson!

* Language partnerships

* Oracy

* Word study

* Reading and writing in both languages, daily

* Bridging

* Utilizing metalinguistic knowledge and transfer

Our 6-12 Program Model* Modeled after Utah’s Secondary DLI Pathway

* Grades 6-8: 2 courses in Spanish each year (Spanish

Language Arts & Social Studies)

* Grade 9: Spanish 4 & US History in Spanish

* Grade 10: AP Spanish

* Grades 11: AP Spanish Lit

* Spanish Language Interpreter Program

* Students complete 12th grade with Advanced levels of

Spanish and English language proficiency in reading,

writing, speaking and listening and can receive a Seal

of Biliteracy on their diploma

https://vimeo.com/331602459/b74e7a206e

Works Cited

1. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9903.html

2. Collier & Thomas, 2009, Chapter 2

3. Collier & Thomas, 2009, Chapter 3

4. The Multiple Benefits of Dual Language5. Fred Genesee, Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, William Saunders

& Donna Christian (2009) English Language Learners in

U.S. Schools: An Overview of Research Findings, Journal of

Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 10:4,

363-385.

6. https://dana.org/CEREBRUM/2012/THE_COGNITIVE_BE

NEFITS_OF_BEING_BILINGUAL/