Irvine school district considers dual-language program

Most days find Heather King describing the latest hot property in English and Spanish.

The Irvine real estate agent said a second language is essential in today’s global economy.

King is among a growing share of Irvine parents pushing the Irvine Unified School District to launch an immersion program to instruct schoolchildren in English and Spanish.

She recently professed surprise upon hearing that Irvine Unified, a district where 72 languages are spoken, lags the Anaheim, Santa Ana and Capistrano school districts, where immersion programs are already in place.

Some 132 people have signed a petition that King posted online in February. One signer said she pulled a child from an Irvine elementary school in favor of a Spanish immersion program at Gates Elementary in Lake Forest.

Anita Casavantes Bradford, who recently joined the faculty at UC Irvine, said she was reluctant to relocate from San Diego to Irvine because the public schools lack an immersion program.

“Why would you not teach children in more than one language?” she asked.

The assistant professor of history and Chicano/Latino studies at UCI said she is shopping for elementary schools for her 3-year-old, who is learning Spanish in a private preschool.

But district officials contend that teaching students in two languages is no small task. The rapidly growing district is grappling with multiple new initiatives and where to put an estimated 16,000 new students who are expected to enroll over the next nine years.

Bradford sees it differently: “I think what’s at stake is that they do not value dual-language education.”

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Not so easy to house

Cassie Parham is walking an educational tightrope.

On the one hand, Parham, the district’s assistant superintendent for education services, said she embraces the idea of an immersion program that lives up to the district’s high standards.

On the other hand, Parham’s 20 years of experience in education tell her that many pieces of the puzzle would need to fall into place for such a program to succeed.

Where would the immersion program be housed? Could the district find enough high-quality bilingual teachers? Are a sufficient number of families interested to keep such a program going?

Meanwhile, the timing isn’t ideal. District teachers are already grappling with a slew of new initiatives, including Common Core. And enrollment is growing just as a teacher shortage looms. Parham also noted that students are being taught at an interim site while the new Portola Springs Elementary School is being built.

“It’s balancing the needs of 32,000 students in our district against a smaller desire by some parents for a new program,” Parham explained.

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In it for the long haul

An immersion program, by its very nature, demands commitment.

Students begin in kindergarten or first grade, when their minds are most receptive, according to a report by district staff. Ideally, classes are equally split between children fluent in English and those learning the language. Research shows that at least 30 students would need to enroll for the program to be a success.

Initially, teachers deliver lessons in English about 10% of the time and 90% of the time in another language. By the time students reach fifth or sixth grade, that gap has closed and children are learning in both languages about equally.

“They become good problem-solvers because they have to decode a second language as they’re learning,” King explained.

But if participants drop out early, they could be behind their peers because immersion course work is paced slightly slower because of the inherent difficulty of teaching a language along with the particular subject matter. If they persist, research shows, immersion program students outperform their peers on standardized tests in both languages and exhibit more cultural consciousness.

Members of the district board of education discussed the upsides and downsides of a dual-immersion program at their meeting last month.

Among the key concerns was where to house the program. The district’s neighborhood school model means that children attend a school close to home. An immersion program contradicts this philosophy because children could be drawn from across the district to achieve sufficient enrollment. Some from outside the district might want to transfer in — an added headache for a district that’s bursting at the seams.

Parham also described a historic lack of interest among parents. Surveys to Spanish-speaking parents in 2005, 2006 and 2007 drummed up little interest. In 2008 and again in 2009, the district failed to secure funding for Korean- or Mandarin-language programs after applying for federal grants.

But King said parents like her, whose children are fluent in English, weren’t surveyed but they are interested. They’d like to see the program start in the 2015-16 school year.

King suggested housing the program at El Camino Real, an empty school now used for training. She said the staff report presented at the board meeting talked about “dual immersion,” which caters to English learners along with children who wish to learn another language, like Spanish. She wants a single-immersion program — which would not include native speakers of the foreign language.

“Either is great, but we are asking for single-immersion,” she said.

The district must also figure out how to pay for the program.

One year could cost $387,500, according to a rough estimate provided by the district. The money would pay for teachers, curriculum development, professional learning, equipment and instructional materials.

But Bradford, the UCI professor, isn’t convinced the hurdles are insurmountable.

“If they thought it was valuable, they would find a way,” Bradford said. “This is a district with resources.”

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Second language can open the world

Mike Parham, no relation to Cassie, speaks Spanish and Russian, languages he acquired in college.

A member of the Irvine school board, he said he champions an immersion program.

“Languages opened my world in terms of the career path I chose,” said Parham, an investment banker. “Whether you learn Russian or Spanish or Mandarin, it’s a global market, and it’s a tremendous skill to have.”

The school board last month said such a program “may not be viable under the current circumstance,” but it directed staff to continue exploring the concept.

Parham said he’d like to hear more about the language the program might offer, costs and logistics.

“I think we’ve looked at it from the wrong side,” he said. “I think we’ve focused on making sure that our English-learners learn English quickly to be successful.”

Given that Mandarin speakers make up 21% of the district, Parham acknowledges, “Someone who just moved here from China isn’t going to want to have their child take a Spanish class.”

But, he continues, “We don’t look at it from the perspective of the student who wants to learn a different language. I think we’re missing out on that.”

To learn more about the effort to create a dual immersion program in the Irvine Unifed School District, visit mybilingualchildirvine.weebly.com