Milpitas: Randall Elementary to get district's first dual immersion program

A Spanish dual immersion program will be established at Robert Randall Elementary School next fall, the Milpitas Unified School District Board of Education decided at its Jan. 26 meeting as the audience broke into applause.

Students in two transitional kindergarten and three kindergarten classes will be the first to be taught both English and Spanish under the new program.Parents spoke in favor of dual immersion during the meeting. In addition, 49 families have signed an "intent to register form" to show their commitment to the program. Of those, 16 families listed Spanish as their primary language, 22 identified as Hispanic/Latino, 14 listed a language other than Spanish as their first language and 19 listed English as the first language of their child, according to data presented to the board. The program is less "two way," where the goal is to build literacy and fluency in the native Spanish language, and more "dual language," which aims to make students literate and fluent in both English and Spanish.

Matthew Duffy, assistant superintendent of educational services, said Milpitas is an international community so it makes sense to create the program there. Robert Randall Elementary's dual immersion program will be the district's first.

By Aliyah Mohammed - Milpitas Post

Read more here