The Delavan-Darien School District is trying to determine what the future of its dual language program will look like – and what it’s considering has parents concerned.
Currently, the district offers two-way dual language classes that are ideally made up of half English speakers and half Spanish speakers. The district tries to provide the program for students in 4-year-old kindergarten through 12th grade, depending on staffing restrictions, according to district Superintendent Drew Halbesma.
Now, the district is considering whether to cut back the program to 4K through sixth grade.
Halbesma said the reason for the potential change is staffing. The district has been unable to find highly qualified bilingual and biliterate teachers to fill all of its dual language teaching positions over the last several years.
“We have been able to staff the program by the start of school each year, but not consistently with teachers that have the 1023 license/highly qualified to teach in a bilingual program, and therefore our language allocation plan has had to change year to year based upon staffing inconsistencies,” he said.
Lesley Luna’s two sons – in third and first grades – both participate in the dual language program. She was shocked to hear at an April 13 School Board meeting that the district was considering cutting back on the program.
Parent Kimberly Hansen’s two daughters – in fourth and sixth grades – are also in the dual language program. Her son participated in the program until ninth grade.
Hansen said the proposal to cut back the program led a group of parents to create a petition at change.org seeking to preserve it. It called for people to speak up at a special meeting April 22. As of May 5, the petition had 1,590 signatures.
Over 300 people attended that special meeting, she said, and over 40 spoke about why they wanted the dual language program to be kept as is.
Hansen, who has experience as a dual language teacher in Illinois, said she was frustrated by research presented to the board in April that claimed children could become bilingual in five to seven years and that the program could be ended at sixth grade. She said students will lose what they’ve learned if they stop at sixth grade.
“You can’t just end it at sixth grade and expect these kids to go into their adulthood bilingual if they’re not continuing to practice it,” Hansen said, “and they tried to say that the one Spanish foreign language class that you get every year in high school that we all took for years would be enough to keep that.
“But you’re not getting any of that academic language in Spanish, so you’re not truly becoming bilingual or biliterate.”
But Halbesma said the research does not claim students will become bilingual in that time. Instead, he said, the research shows English learners tend to reach proficiency on state assessments after being a part of a dual language immersion program within five to seven years of starting the program – at a much higher rate than any other type of program.
How does the dual language program work?
Starting in 4K, 90% of classroom instruction is done in Spanish. After that, ideally, half the day is in English and half in Spanish. The program provides an opportunity for English-speaking students to learn a second language through academic content alongside native Spanish peers, while Spanish-speaking students have the opportunity to learn with English-speaking student models while developing their language skills through academic content, according to Halbesma.
“The optimal window of learning a second language is during a child’s primary years. Both groups benefit from the multicultural/multilingual aspect of the program,” he said in an email to a reporter April 28.
Where do things stand now?
No final decision has been made yet, as the board in April tabled any decision.
“They wanted to gather further information and hear more about the vision for what a new Dual Language Advisory Committee will look like in helping to frame future decisions,” Halbesma said in an email.
The committee will consist of teachers, parents, School Board members, high school students, community members and district administrators. Halbesma hopes the committee will have 20-25 members.
The overview, purpose and application process will be rolled out at the board’s May 11 board meeting, Halbesma said; applications will be open from May 12-21. Committee members will be selected as soon as possible, and the first meeting is scheduled for June 1.
The committee will focus on guiding the development, coherence and continuous improvement of the program in alignment with three core goals of bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement and sociocultural competence.
Contact Alec Johnson at 262-875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Delavan-Darien dual language program could be reduced
Reporting by Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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