Ed Source – Michael Janofsky
“With a growing number of parents embracing the value of their children learning a second language, nine more dual immersion programs are coming to L.A. Unified when schools open next week. Among the additions are one in Armenian and another in Arabic, giving the district 65 such programs, a 25 percent increase over the last three years. As an effort to teach children to read and write, not just speak, in two languages — what educators call bi-literacy — the increase is part of a larger expansion taking place across California, where the number of schools offering similar programs exceeds 400, more than quadrupling over the last decade, according to Jan Gustafson Corea, chief executive officer of the California Association for Bi-Lingual Education. The growth has come despite the passage of a highly controversial initiative nearly two decades ago, Proposition 227, a measure promoted by businessman Ron Unz and supported by then-Gov. Pete Wilson that discourages districts from creating dual language programs.”(more)