quality immersion education outcomes
measuring impact in achievement, culture, and conversation
We celebrate partner school successes big and small: from the first words your students speak in a second language to the first class of addalingua program graduates. addalingua is dedicated to implementing grade-level formative and summative assessments that measure Spanish language development and cultural competency. These evaluations compliment state or district required assessments in English so that our partner schools are given a comprehensive picture of student growth – in both languages. School leaders and teachers use this information to pinpoint areas of concern, differentiate instruction, and communicate effectively with families.
But don’t just take our word for it. Browse through some of the stories shared by our school administrators, teachers, parents, and other community members.
administrator stories
"The opportunity that we are giving our students today through a dual language education is priceless."
teacher stories
"It is time for us to teach families the fantastic traits we can learn from Hispanic people."
parent stories
"Our local tour guide was amazed to meet my six-year-old who spoke fluent Spanish with him."
connecting across cultures
My husband may not know Spanish, but when his workers hear his son speaking fluently and with the correct accent, I see their pride. I see that there’s a mutual understanding and respect. I see employees who see their boss differently because they see how much he values something they have.
Spanish immersion parent
Covenant Christian School
standardized testing data mirrors national trends
On average, our immersion students are doing as well or better than their monolingual peers on standardized assessments given in English. We recently did a comparison of our immersion students and their English track peers at Pella Christian on the Iowa Assessment and they are doing great! We now have our own data to prove that not only are we giving them a great education, we are also giving them a second language.
Rebecca Gomez
Spanish immersion point person, addalingua partner school
improved student achievement
Using addalingua is an investment in professional development, but one that is paying off in student achievement.
Dr. Brian Davis
Superintendent of Holland Public Schools
addalingua programs set the standard
three goals
We’ve designed addalingua programs to make sure students reach three goals:
- academic achievement equal to or greater than monolingual peers
- grade-level biliteracy
- cultural competence
challenges to success
Though most dual language and immersion schools want students to reach these same goals, creating the environment they need to do so is challenging discussed in a 2015 report conducted for the U.S. Department of Education.
- inconsistent terminology related to bilingual, dual language, and immersion education makes it difficult for schools to choose program design, instructional practices, and assessments in line with promised student outcomes
- a shortage of dual language immersion teachers with sufficient proficiency in languages other than English
- high stakes testing requirements in English that fail to consider the developmental process of two-language learners
- instructional resources directly translated from English that fail to account for the contextual and linguistic integrity of a given language
Without clear guidelines and deep understanding of second language acquisition in K-12 education, even school teams with the best intentions can inadvertently develop dual language programs that set students up to pay a high price.
Learn how our programs set the standard.
addalingua program standardsour partner schools
No one can speak to the success of our models better than our partner schools. Take a look at the array of schools we serve. Perhaps there is one near you.