Scarsdale 10583 – Mayra Kirkendall-Rodriguez
“The Scarsdale School Administration announced during its January 13th Board of Education meeting that it is presently working on developing the K-12 STEAM curriculum…In order to be able to say ‘Full STEAM Ahead,’ it is very important to remember that foreign languages are an extremely useful, but neglected, Art, that is critical to the successful implementation of a STEAM program. Reams of academic research internationally and in the US document that early foreign language acquisition, substantially helps children with cognitive development, and importantly, to improve math skills and standardized test scores. Additionally, scientists have confirmed the health benefits of foreign language acquisition…Unfortunately, the US is in a foreign language crisis; less than 20% of Americans speak a foreign language. According to Department of Defense and Department of Education analyses, we are not producing a sufficient amount of people who can speak languages critical to US national security. Moreover, there is significant demand in the US for foreign language speakers in multiple sectors of the public and private economy.”(more)