Kansas getting its first Mandarin immersion program

The Sunflower State is getting its first Mandarin immersion program.

The Blue Valley School District, one of districts in the Kansas City metropolitan area, is opening an entirely new, whole-school Mandarin immersion program in the Fall of 2017.

The school, for now known only known as Elementary 23, will be home to a Kindergarten through fifth grade, 50/50 Mandarin immersion program with 60 students per grade.

Having a school district create a new Mandarin immersion program and give it not only its own building, but a newly built one – and make it a stand-alone school rather than a strand within a school – is something most programs can only dream of.

There’s ample evidence that whole-school programs, where the entire school takes part in the MI program instead of only a few classes being part of a larger, English-only school, is highly advantageous.

It’s exciting to see Blue Valley launch such a big, bold program at a time when other districts keep making programs deal with the difficulties of being a strand.

I’ll keep you posted on what I hear about the program.