BCPS expands dual immersion program to middle school, enhancing bilingual education

According to U.S. News, dual immersion programs focus on dual language education to promote bilingualism, biliteracy, and intercultural competence in students.

Dr. Lannie Simpson, director of English learners, said the decision was made to start with Walter Johnson because it is the designated middle school to Mountain View Elementary. In addition, over 60% of the student population at Walter Johnson are native Spanish speakers.

Students at Mountain View, kindergarten through fifth grade, have a half day in Spanish and half day in English. According to Simpson, the middle school program will start with sixth grade and will move into the next grade level each year.

“They’re learning the language through content classes,” Simpson said. “As the program moves to middle school, it is considered a continuation program.”

Students take science, social studies, and an elective class, called Connections, taught in Spanish.

Simpson said at the completion of eighth grade, students will have two world language credits, Spanish I and Spanish II.

The goal of the program, Simpson said, is for students to be proficient in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In high school, students will start at Spanish III or Spanish IV. Students will also qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy award given by the state.

Simpson shared some benefits of students being bilingual and being fully engaged in the dual immersion program.

“There are brain benefits. Having a bilingual brain delays the onset of Alzheimer’s by five years,” Simpson started. “It creates mental flexibility, so students are able to solve problems in new ways and it creates an intentional focus.”

“Research from Thomas and Collier shows that all subgroups of students perform better in dual language programs than in regular school taught in English only,” Simpson added.

Simpson said program expansion in other middle schools will depend on the success of the program at Walter Johnson. According to Simpson, students have already shown improvement in End-Of-Grade (EOG) scores and language proficiency scores.

Antonio Lyerly, principal at Walter Johnson Middle School, is in his first year of principalship after serving at Freedom High School for 10 years.

“I was very excited when I took the principalship here and they told me we were starting the program here,” Lyerly said. “We’re excited to be the first cohort to get it off the ground and running. It’s a really unique opportunity for our kids.”

Teachers for dual immersion are recruited from Participate Learning. Joel Flores is the dual immersion teacher at Walter Johnson Middle School.

“They’ve done a really good job in partnership with Dr. Simpson to make sure we have the right fit,” Lyerly said, referring to Participate Learning. “The teacher we have is doing a phenomenal job.”

According to Simpson, there are nearly 300 dual language programs across the state and North Carolina is one of the top five states in dual language programming in the country.

Lyerly commended Dr. Simpson for spearheading the initiative.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for our kids to learn two languages at the same time and be able to have those interactions. It’s been a really good success. I feel really good about the program under Dr. Simpson’s leadership and her vision,” Lyerly said.