Dual language immersion programs will grow at LAUSD with or without Prop. 58

LA School Report

The majority of  Vista Del Valle Dual Language Academy students in San Fernando don’t have just one teacher, they have two. And they don’t have just one classroom, they have two, where they spend half their day learning in English and the other half learning in Spanish. It’s all part of the school’s dual language immersion program, one of 75 in LA Unified and part of a growing trend.

Only two years ago, the district had 57 dual language programs. Twelve were added this year, along with an additional $6 million in budget funds, and the district plans to continue adding more.

The growth of dual language programs — where students are taught 50 percent of the time in English and 50 percent in a second language in a classroom where roughly half the students are fluent English speakers and half are English learners — is part of shifting attitudes in California and LA Unified about bilingual public education and English-only instruction.

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