Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

There are districts (and indeed whole states) that do K-12 language immersion well. New York City, Portland, Oregon. Minnesota. Utah (which has immersion is on steroids).

And then there’s Alaska. I’m not sure how I missed just how remarkable their program is. Anchorage is a city of 286,000 and the Anchorage School District serves approximately 43,700 students across 96 schools.

And my goodness do they have immersion. Seven (!) languages, including Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, French, German and Yup’ik. Not only that, but unlike far too many districts, they are committed to offering immersion all the way through high school, instead of petering out in middle school.

Which isn’t to say the programs aren’t under threat. There was concern they’d be cut in 2022 due to budget issues and again this year. But so far they seem to be holding on.

Here are all the programs, and their progression through the grades:

Japanese K – 12

Sand Lake Elementary • Mears Middle School • Dimond High School

Russian K – 12

Turnagain Elementary School • Romig Middle School • West High School

Spanish K – 12

Chugiak Elementary School • Mirror Lake Middle School • Chugiak High School

and

Government Hill Elementary School • Romig Middle School • West High School

German K – 12

Rilke Schule German Charter School • Service High School

Chinese (adding grade 9 in 2025-26)

Scenic Park Elementary School • Begich Middle School • Bartlett High School

Yup’ik (adding grade 7 in 2025-26)

College Gate Elementary • Wendler Middle School

French (adding grade 6 in 2025-26)

O’Malley Elementary • Goldenview Middle School