I just heard from a teacher who had taught in the Jenks Public Schools Mandarin immersion program that the district is phasing it out and no new Kindergarten classes have begun since the 2021-2022 school year.
The program was established with great fanfare in 2010. It launched at Southeast Elementary School in Jenks and fed to the Sino-Trojan Academy at East Intermediate School.
It began with a $1.5 million award through the US Department of Education’s critical language program in 2009. The program was meant to continue through high school and on to the University of Oklahoma’s Chinese language program.
The Jenks Mandarin immersion program was the only one in the entire state of Oklahoma.
Does anyone have information about why the program is being phased out? I can’t find much online.
Jenks is a suburb of Tusla, Oklahoma, one of the fastest-growing cities in the state
A group of parents, teachers and administrators tasked with helping determine the fate of Blue Valley’s Chinese Immersion program is nearing the end of its work.
For months, the group has been working toward a solution to the sustainability concerns the district raised about the six-year-old immersion program earlier this year.
The task force will come back to the Blue Valley Board of Education with a final recommendation this fall.
International School of the Peninsula has changed its name to Silicon Valley International School.
February 2023
Additions
Texas
LakeCreek Montessori International School
(formerly Jordan International Montessori School)
Austin. K – 6 private.
Additions
California:
Hopkins Junior High School will be the continuation of the Fremont, California Mandarin immersion program from Lila BringhurstElementary.
Illinois:
Addams Junior High School, Continuation of the program that begins at Campanelli Elementary. Schaumburg, Illinois
Oregon:
Bolton Primary School, West Linn, Oregon. The program began with Kindergarten in the fall of 2022.
Palisades World Language School, Lake Oswego, Oregon. The public program launched this year with a Kindergarten. The school was already home to a Spanish immersion program that’s been running since 2011.
Moved:
Fremont, California Mandarin immersion program has moved from Azevada Elementary to Lila BringhurstElementary.
Kensington Wade School in London has moved to a new location at Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 9ER
Closure:
PUC Preparatory Academy, Los Angeles. Charter school. Opened in 2017. Closed in 2021.
November 2022
Additions
California:
Hidden Valley Elementary in Chino Hills, CA, east of Los Angeles. The program began with Kindergarten in the fall of 2022.
Pasadena’s Mandarin immersion program has now reached high school. The program begins at Field Elementary, then feeds to Sierra Madre Middle School and finally reached Pasadena High School.
Cornerstone school in Palo Alto offers Kindergarten through fifth grade Mandarin immersion. I have emailed to ask them when the program began and whether they teach Simplified or Traditional chracters.
San Diego’s Pacific Beach Middle School continues the Mandarin immersion program that begins at Carver Elementary. The program then feeds to Mission High school.
Colorado:
International School of Denver, private K – 8. Was Colorado International School
Idaho:
Rigby, Idaho’s Jefferson Joint School District extended its Mandarin immersion program to high school in the 2021-2022 school year. The program begins at South Fork Elementary, continues at Rigby Middle school and follows through at Rigby High school.
Indiana:
The Batesville Community School Corporation in Batesville, Indiana this year built out its Mandarin immersion program to middle school. The program begins at Batesville Primary School, Kindergarten through 2nd grade, then feeds to Batesville Intermediate School, 3rd through 5th grade. This year it continued to Batesville Middle School with the first 6th grade class.
Michigan:
Greenville Middle School (added 2019) and Greenville High School (added 2022) in Greenville, Michigan as the program in the Greenville Public Schools in this rural western Michigan program begins its high school portion. I don’t have full information on what the high school program consists of.
The Mandarin immersion program at Zeeland Christian School will continue at Holland Christian High School.
North Carolina:
In North Carolina’s Chapel Hill area, the Carrboro City Schools have two grade schools with Mandarin immersion strands, Cox Mill Elementary and Harrisburg Elementary. They now feed to the newly-built Roberta Road Middle School.
Oregon:
The Mandarin immersion program in Eugene, Oregon, which launched in 2017 in Kindergarten, has now reached sixth grade. The entire program has moved into Kennedy Middle School and the district is working to create a K – 8 school at the new 2200 Bailey Hill Road site. A shout out to the principal, Jennifer Hebard, who took the time to email me and update about the move!
South Carolina:
Music Math Multilingual Christian Academy offers Mandarin immersion for Kindergarten through 5th grade. The school began as Charis Learning Center in 2019 and was revamped as a Christian Mandarin immersion school in 2022.
Utah:
The Jordan School District’s Mandarin immersion program now include 10 schools. Students at the high school level do not begin their bridge program until 10th grade, so not all programs are available in all listed school as some schools don’t yet have 10th grade students.
International Friends School in Bellevue, Washington launched its first Kindergarten class in 2020-2021, its first 1st grade in 2021 and its first 2nd grade in 2022. The private school began as a preschool but had always planned to become a K – 8 immersion school over time.
INTERNTIONAL
China:
3E International School in Beijing. A Mandarin/English 50.50% immersion school in the Chaoyang District. The private school was founded in 2005.
Malaysia:
Epsom International School, in Malaysia. This “British inspired” boarding school added a Mandarin immersion track last year. Classes are taught in English and Mandarin.
Deletions
Oakley Elementary, in the Fulton County School District in Georgia, appears to have closed its Mandarin immersion program. The district has three Spanish immersion schools but no longer lists a Mandarin immersion program. In 2017 the Atlanta Journal Constitution ran an article about the program
In Rhode Island, the Pawtucket School Department no longer appears to have a Mandarin immersion program at Potter Burns Annex.
Seashore Academy, Newport Beach, CA. This says it’s Mandarin immersion but they don’t seem to have any indication that 50% of the academic day is spent in Mandarin. My guess is that they just offer a Mandarin class.
Maylan Academy, Decatur, GA. This had originally said it would be a K – 8 but now appears to be only a preschool.
2021 changes
Additions:
Delaware
Newark High School
9-12
Newark, DE
Christina School District’s Mandarin immersion program began feeding to Newark in the 2021-2022 school year. 100 students started Chinese immersion in kindergarten and 47 continued into high school. Most of them took the AP Chinese exam in the spring of 2022 and will then have the option of taking college-level courses at the high school, from teachers trained by the University of Delaware to give college-level instruction and then are designated as adjunct faculty members.
Colorado
Colorado International Language Academy
0 – 5
Colorado Springs, CO
This fell off the list. Originally it was Global Village Academy charter school in Colorado Springs. It changed its name and management model and beginning July 1, 2019 will be the Colorado International Language Academy. The school was part of the Global Village charter collaborative but is now an independent charter school.
Deletions
Colorado
The International School of Denver and Denver Montclair International School merged in 2009, so I’ve removed Denver Montclair International School from the list.
Colorado International School
No longer seems to exist.
Delaware
Due to student attrition, two Delaware school districts are discontinuing their Mandarin immersion programs. I haven’t yet removed the schools from the list because the programs haven’t yet been closed, but it is coming.
As of the spring of 2022:
Students in second through sixth grade in the Colonial School District will continue in the program through eighth grade, but no new students are being admitted, and kindergarten and first grade students will return to traditional programming in the fall, according to Nneka Jones, Colonial’s assistant superintendent.
With fewer students enrolling at the kindergarten level and older students steadily dropping out, Red Clay stopped admitting children to its Chinese immersion program at Linden Hill Elementary last fall. The program will continue until current students finish fifth grade, Shaw says.
The site says the school teachers in four languages, Mandarin, English, Spanish and Arabic. It’s not clear what part of the school day takes place in Mandarin.
CLOSURES
Baton Rouge International School
Founded in 2000, the school, which offered immersion in Spanish, French and Mandarin, is closing at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. The headmaster said a COVID-related drop in enrollment is behind the closure.
March 2022 – ADDITIONS
California
Avenues: Silicon Valley
K – 8, private. San Jose, CA.
This is the first West coast outpost of New York’s Avenues: The World School, which opened in 2011. It’s opening a middle school first, grades 6 – 9, a rarity in new schools.
Bell Tower School
K-8 Private, Alhambra, CA
ShuRen School
San Jose Campus
San Jose, CA 95125
Long in Berkeley, is opening a San Jose campus 2022-2023
Santa Fe Computer Science Magnet School, Monrovia Unified School District
148 West Duarte Road, Monrovia, CA
The Middle School the district’s MI program feeds to.
Frontiers Academy
Has moved from Anaheim to nearby Costa Mesa, California
Kennedy Middle School
The Mandarin immersion program of the Redwood City School District, which begins at Orion Alternative Elementary School (formerly John Gill Elementary) reached sixth grade and moved to Kennedy Middle School in the 2021-2022 school year. The program will continue at Woodside High School in 4 years.
Minnesota
Lakes International Language Academy
K-12 charter school, Forest Lake, Minn.
Started 2004-2005, also has Spanish immersion track
North Junior High School
6 – 8, opened 2013-2014 school year, St. Cloud, Minn.
This is the continuation of program at Guang Ming Academy @Madison Elementary
Apollo High School
9 – 12, St. Cloud Minnesota
This is the continuation of the Mandarin immersion program that begins at Guang Ming Academy. The first cohort arrived in the 2017-2018 school year.
New Jersey
Maurice Hawk Elementary School, West Windsor, NJ.
Program launched 2018-2019 school year. Has now reached 4th grade.
New York
Pine Street School
Private,K-5, Manhattan.
Launched in 2017-2018. Also has Spanish immersion track
Oregon
Harriet Tubman Middle School, 6 – 8
Portland, Oregon
Utah
Tooele Junior High School, Tooele, Utah
Program reached 7th grade in the 2021-2022 school year.
The program will continue at Tooele High School in the 2024-2025 school year.
Washington
Bel-Red Bilingual Academy
0 – 8, Bellevue, Washington
Launched 2019-2020
Wyoming
CY Middle School
Casper, Wyoming
Program progressed from grade school 2019-2020
CHANGES
E.E. Waddell Language Academy, a K-8 public school in Charlotte, NC, has changed its name to South Academy of International Languages (SAIL)
CLOSURE
Horseshoe Trails Elementary School
At the end of the 2020-2021 school year the Cave Creek Unified School District closed the Mandarin immersion program at Horseshoe Trails, which was founded in 2015. It has just gotten to middle school. More here:
This charter school outside Raleigh, NC had planned to open this fall, but COVID-19 made that impossible. They haven’t given up but it’s been a rough year.
New K – 5 50/50 Mandarin immersion program beginning in the fall of 2021.
International School of San Antonio
French and Chinese immersion preschool, ages 2 – 12.
They plan to add a Mandarin immersion track beginning in Kindergarten which will continue through grade school in the 2021-2022 school year.
Brilliant Star Montessori School, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
This Montessori school goes through 6th grade and offers some form of Mandarin immersion, though it’s not entirely clear what from their website. The school itself was founded in 2000. I can’t tell when Mandarin was added. It’s certainly the only Mandarin program in this U.S. Commonwealth. It is near Guam in the Philippine Sea.
This is a preschool through Kindergarten school that appears to have opened in 2020. It has It doesn’t yet have an elementary school program so I’m not including it on my list but note it here as it seems they might build up into a grade school at some point.
Dallas International School
They’re really a French immersion school that offered Mandarin classes
Founded in 1987, Dallas International School is the only private international school in Dallas offering a fully bilingual French and English program that also includes a third language in Spanish, Mandarin and German. With its internationally renowned curriculum and multiple language instruction, the school prides itself on a small class size approach, offering students the exposure to diverse cultural views through a rigorous, premiere educational experience. From Pre-School to 12th grade, Dallas International School prepares students for academic competitiveness thanks to its successfully-proven hybrid education system between a French and American-based curriculum. Offering an attractive French Immersion Program (FIP), Dallas International School gives non-native French speakers the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the French language with the goal of becoming fluent and compelling as strong candidates for college and university placements once they graduate from high school (12th grade). The school also offers a strong Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and German language program. Dallas International School is committed to guiding students to lead fulfilling lives and become global leaders of tomorrow.
“For the 2019/2020 school year, we have 14 classes; 2 each for grades kindergarten through sixth grade at Azevada Elementary School. Additionally, there are 2 seventh and 1 eighth grade class at Hopkins Jr. High School. We also have 17 students enrolled in the 9th grade at Mission San Jose High School. In total, there are about 400 children in the program now. According to the latest survey of parents representing 69% of the children in the program, 73% of the families speak English, 15% speak Mandarin, and 9% speak Cantonese as primary languages at home. 59% of the families surveyed also speak a second language in the home at least 10% of the time.”
Cherrywood Elementary School
San Jose, CA, Berryessa Union School District
Launched in 2018-2019
Oberlin Magnet Middle School
Raleigh, NC
The middle school continuation of the Wake County Public School System’s Mandarin immersion program which begins in Stough Elementary School.
Oak Meadow Elementary School in El Dorado Hills, California has changed its name to Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter School. https://www.buckeyeusd.org/domain/4702
St. Michael’s Catholic Academy
Flushing, NY. Mandarin program launched in 2013.
Emanuele Elementary School, New Haven Unified School District, Union City, California.
New program to start Fall 2020.
Fifer Middle School
Caesar Rodney School District
Continuation of the program that began in Simpson Elementary in 2013.
The first middle school class,6th grade, began in 2018.
Westdale Middle School, Baton Rouge, LA. It will launch in 2020-2021.
This is the continue of the program at Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet, which launched in 2013.
Centner Acadamy, Miami, Florida. A private K- 8 school which launched with a preschool and Kindergarten in the fall of 2019.
Haven Elementary School, Savanna, GA. Launched fall 2019.
East Light Academy, a charter school in Charleston, SC, has closed.
Why isn’t Whittle School & Studios on the list?
This new school, which launched in Washington DC in 2019 and plans to open in New York, lists “Mandarin immersion” as one of its educational offerings. However it doesn’t appear that it actually offers more than Mandarin classes taught entirely in Mandarin. Which is how all languages are pretty much taught these days, so it’s not a big deal. It doesn’t appear to teach any actual subjects in Mandarin. And neither does it offer 50% of the school day taught in Mandarin. Thus, it’s not a Mandarin immersion program by the standards of educations (See the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition for more info.)
Global Village Academy charger school in Colorado Springs has changed its name and management model and beginning July 1, 2019 will be the Colorado International Language Academy. The school was part of the Global Village charter collaborative but is now an independent charter school.
June 17, 2019
ADD
Shelyn Elementary, Rowland Heights, CA
June 1, 2019
Mark Twain Middle School
Feeder school in Los Angeles Unified School District for Broadway Elementary Mandarin immersion program
Belvedere Elementary School, Aiken, South Carolina
The district is also adding Spanish and German immersion at two other elementary schools.
Ms. Lam’s Montessori School, Brooklyn, NY
Launched an elementary school program after having had a preschool program for several years.
May 22, 2019
Additions:
Wilson Elementary School, San Gabriel, Calif. A K – 5 program opening 2019-2020.
Socratic Language School, Washington D.C. A K – 5 private school that launched 2018-2019.
May 13, 2019
Additions
Chinese Immersion School, Eugene Oregon (name change, was Crest Elementary.)
Kennedy Middle School, Eugene Oregon (announced, the first class from the elementary program won’t arrive until 2022)
Churchill High School, Eugene Oregon (announced, the first class from the middle school program won’t arrive until 2025)
Remove: Empower Charter School, San Diego. It was supposed to launch with both a Spanish immersion and Mandarin immersion track, but appears to only have a Spanish immersion track.
May 10, 2019
Additions
Sierra Madre Middle School, Pasadena, California
San Miquel Elementary, LAUSD
Rigby Middle School, the continuation of the Mandarin program begun six years ago at South Fork Elementary School in Rigby, Idaho
Orangewood Elementary West Covina Unified, CA
Lots of Utah additions:
Horizon Elementary
Hurricane Intermediate
Lava Ridge Intermediate
Sunrise Ridge Intermediate
Tonaquint Intermediate.
St. George, Utah
Mueller Park Junior High School, Bountiful, Utah
North Park Elementary in North Logan is no longer the host school for the Cache County Chinese DLI. It has been moved to Cedar Ridge Elementary in Hyde Park.
Timberline Middle School, Alpine, Utah
Vista Heights Middle School, Saratoga Spring, Utah
Adele Young Intermediate School, Brigham City, Utah
Alta High School, Sandy Utah
Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah
Brighton High School, Cottonwood Heights, Utah
Taylorsville High School, Taylorsville, Utah
Cottonwood High School, Murray, Utah
Fiddlers Canyon Elementary Cedar City, UT
Springville Junior High School, Springville, UT
Bonneville High School, North Ogden, Utah
(additions as of Jan 25th)
1 middle
1 high
January 2019
Changes:
Hope Chinese Charter School, Beaverton, Oregon
New address
International Charter School of Atlanta
Only got through 8th grade. The original plans to be K – 12 have changed.
2018-12-31
ADDITIONS:
Adobe Bluffs Elementary School, Poway Unified School District, San Diego
AXIS International Academy, Ft. Collins, CO (opening Fall 2019)
Camelot Prep, Orange, CA K – 12 Private
Chief Sealth International High School
This is the high school portion of Seattle Public Schools’ Mandarin immersion program. It begins at Beacon Hill Elementary and Dearborne Elementary schools, continues at Mercer Middle School and then finishes at Chief Sealth. [Note: Sealth is pronounced See-ELTH. And he was indeed the Salish chief after whom the city was named.]
Columbia River High School, Vancouver, Wash. The Mandarin immersion program that began at Franklin Elementary School in the 2009 – 2010 school year continued to Jason Lee Middle School, Vancouver, Wash. where its first cohort began in 2015-2016. The cohort arrived at Columbia River High School in 2018-2019. Vancouver’s program offers only a Mandarin language course in middle school and high school, no subjects are taught in Mandarin, making it only a semi-immersion program past 5th grade.
East Point Academy Middle School, West Columbia, South Carolina — The middle school portion of this Mandarin immersion charter began in 2018-2019 and is in a different building.
Jason Lee Middle School, Vancouver, Wash. The Mandarin immersion program that began at Franklin Elementary School in the 2009 – 2010 school year continues to Lee, its first cohort began in 2015-2016. Vancouver’s program offers only a Mandarin language course in middle school and high school, no subjects are taught in Mandarin, making it only a semi-immersion program past 5th grade.
Pacific Academy, K – 12, Irvine, Calif.
Plantation Elementary School in Lafayette, La. Has changed its name to Cpl. Michael Middlebrook Elementary
Polis Montessori World School, private, New York City
Springbridge International School, private K – 8, Campbell, Calif. Offers Mandarin and Japanese immersion.
International Additions:
No. 28 Primary School in District 5 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This is an elementary and possible middle school (K-8, I think) in Argentina. The only information I could gather was from a news article here
This is a school that teaches Mandarin and may be immersion. While it’s called a college, what I can glean from its website and the article about it online makes it seem as if it’s more a high school-college, which isn’t uncommon in many parts of the world. But not fully clear. It has a website, though it’s not always up. There’s also an article up about it here.
Ms. Lam Montessori School, Brooklyn. Was preschool only, now adding K – 5.
2018-07-14
ADDITIONS
East Light Academy opens in Charleston, SC. This is a sister school to East Link Academy in Greenville, SC, and I believe also to East Voyager Academy in Charlotte, NC.
Ms. Lam School, private K – 8 in Brooklyn, NY. This is the first U.S. outpost of a school with 5 campuses in Taipei in Taiwan.
International Montessori School, Durham NC. Had Spanish and French immersion. Added Mandarin immersion in the past few years. Trying to get more information.
Yi Hwang Academy of Language Excellence in Gwinnett Co., Georgia. Mandarin/Korean immersion opening in 2019-2020
Science, Language & Arts International School launching a private K – 8 Chinese immersion program in Brooklyn in 2019-2020. It has a Mandarin Pre-K in place now and a long-time French immersion program.
PS/IS 102Q Bayview School, Queens
I received a note from a parent at this school that 102Q has a new K-8 Mandarin immersion program. There’s nothing on the website to indicate it does and no one answers the phones, but that’s not uncommon with NYC schools. So, If anyone has more info on it, please pass along.
CHANGES:
New name for Barnard Asian Pacific Language Academy, it’s now Barnard Mandarin Magnet Elementary School,
Hopkins Public Schools in Hopkins, Minn.: Xin Xing Academy now feeds to a program at West Junior High which feeds to Hopkins High School. The Mandarin program is now up to 11th grade.
College Gardens Elementary School’s Mandarin immersion program in Rockville, Maryland has moved to Bayard Rustin Elementary School.
DELETE:
Camelot Academy, Orange County, Calif.
This appears to have shifted from being a Mandarin immersion program to an arts and dance-focused private school. It also appears that the school brings in a lot of students from China to study there, unclear exactly how this interacts with its Mandarin program. I’ve asked for more information. One parent told me the amount of time students spend in Chinese is decreasing.
2018-07-11
New address and whole school status for Jie Ming Mandarin Immersion Academy in St. Paul, Minn.
2018+06+19
Added HOPE International in Prince Edward Island
2017-11-07
Removed Hale in NYC, just has one Chinese class, not immersion, according to Morgan Ho.
Arizona Language Preparatory 4645 E. Marilyn Road Phoenix, Arizona 85032 Grades K-6 but expanding to 8th next year Public Charter The school is Tri-lingual, different grades get a different percentage but roughly 40% Mandarin, 40% Spanish, 20% English simplified azlanguageprep.org tawnie.weaver@azlanguageprep.org phone: 602-996-1595 Fax: 602-344-9560
Batesville Primary School? has the old address and email for arizona language preparatory but all that information is incorrect
2017-07-29
New
iPrep, a Los Angeles charter school, is launching a K-8 program.
Maryknoll School, a Catholic school in Honolulu, is launching a K -8 program. This is Hawaii’s first Mandarin immersion program.
Mawson Primary, near Canberra in Australia. Looking at their website, they offer Mandarin one day a week, so it’s unclear to me if this is true immersion. I don’t know enough about the Australian educational system to be able to tell.
Houston Mandarin immersion magnet school moved to a new address.
In Bellevue, Washington, Tillicum Middle School starting program in the fall. It’s taking students graduating from Jing Mei elementary immersion school.
Mulberry House, Hong Kong.
This starts in preschool at looks to go to only 3rd grade though it could be that it’s building out.
Linden Hill Elementary in Wilmington DE is adding an immersion program.
And some possible removals
I’ve gotten emails that the two Mandarin immersion programs in Michigan, Pattengill Academy and Oakbrook Elementary School, are no longer offering Chinese immersion programs. The school’s aren’t open for the summer so I can’t confirm this. Because of that I haven’t removed them from the list, but if anyone has any information about what’s going on there I’d be most grateful.
Verona Area High School (VAHS) 2023 graduate Alex Prout has been studying Chinese for 12 years, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
In kindergarten, Prout began learning at the Verona Area International School (VAIS) in the very first Two-Way Immersion Mandarin class. Through fifth grade, he spent half the day learning in Chinese and the other in English.
As a kindergartner, Prout was too young to fully understand the impact the language would have on him. Yet, that all changed when Prout entered middle school.
“I really started to appreciate the language,” he said.
CASPER, Wyo. — Families from Casper’s Mandarin Dual Language Immersion program came together at Paradise Valley Park last Friday to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival, a widely celebrated occasion in many Asian countries.
The Chinese government listed the festival as an intangible cultural heritage in 2006. It was made a public holiday in 2008, according to China Daily.
The event, held on Sept. 29, witnessed an impressive turnout of over 100 attendees, ranging from kindergarteners to 10th graders. The families indulged in a mix of traditional Chinese and Wyoming treats, including steamed buns, Cha Ye Dan (tea eggs) and Wyoming tanghulu, according to event attendee Mei Chu Yang.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in Phoenix, Arizona. Source: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
The School District’s Mandarin immersion program is proving a help as the new students are integrated into the school system and life in America. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility is expected to bring more than 1,600 new, high-tech jobs to the state. Some of the staff are coming from Taiwan though most will be hired in Arizona.
From ABC15
Valley school district helping to get Taiwan families integrated into life in the US
Deer Valley Unified School District sees influx of Taiwanese students from TSMC plant
Elenee Dao Sep 05, 2023
PHOENIX — As the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company continues construction in north Phoenix, more families from Taiwan are moving to Arizona. The Deer Valley Unified School District saw about 400 students come into their school system in the last year and a half.
Stetson Hills School saw the most students from Taiwan, with about 100 in the last year, and it’s been an adjustment for both the schools and Taiwanese students.
Here’s the District’s page about the current program. There are currently two Mandarin immersion grade schools in Kansas City:
Wolf Springs Elementary
Blue Valley Schools’ inaugural language immersion program began in the 2017-18 school year at Wolf Springs Elementary. Up to one-half of immersion students at Wolf Springs come from the Blue Valley Southwest attendance area. Students must be enrolled in in-person learning to apply.
Valley Park Elementary
Valley Park Elementary is the district’s second Chinese Immersion program site. The first class started in the 2018-19 school year. Students must reside in the VPE attendance boundary to be considered for the VPE program. Siblings of current immersion students will have preference regardless of home school. Students must be enrolled in in-person learning to apply.
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 