From Education Week Foreign Language Policies Around the World By Anthony Jackson on March 2, 2013 6:28 AM On the occasion of International Mother Language Day, we have been looking at the importance of languages in schools. Today, Heather Singmaster, senior program associate, Asia Society, looks at how other countries are examining their language policies…

[From the Palo Alto Weekly] A champion for charter schools As head of county education board, Palo Altan Grace Mah backs charter school growth Six years after rocking the Palo Alto education scene with a threat to petition for a charter school here, Grace Mah finds herself in the vanguard of a major charter-school drive…

[Parents camped out in Venice to get in this school last week.] By Elizabeth Weise Frank and Mindy Han live in the city of Calabasas, in the hills west of the San Fernando Valley. They moved there specifically for the public schools, which are uniformly rated as excellent. They wanted a high-quality education for their…

These are the ones I know about. I’ve updated the full Mandarin list here as well. New Mandarin immersion schools 2012-2013 Arizona Language Preparatory Phoenix AZ Private All Souls School Alhambra CA Private Seashore Academy Corona del Mar CA Charter Marian Bergeson Elementary Languna Niguel CA Public Fletcher Elementary School Orange CA Public Aptos Middle…

Mandarin and Spanish are coming up fast as desirable classes for young students “We have some parents who are businesspeople who see the language as a tool for the next generation.” DONNA BOOTH DALTON SCHOOL PRINCIPAL Learning a second language when you’re young isn’t just about getting an edge on your peers. TORONTO FRENCH SCHOOL…

It’s a joke, it’s the Onion. But it’s so so very funny… Experts say the average Chinese third-grader is now, alarmingly, barely able to compete with a U.S. high school senior. CHESTNUT HILL, MA—According to an alarming new report published Wednesday by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, third-graders in China are…