Bedford Central School District
E-Brief, December 4, 2018, Edition #6
Dual Language Program Opening its Doors to All!
Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) School of Choice
We are very excited that the Board of Education will be taking final action on December 12, 2018 during its regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting on the proposed Board of Education Policy #7150 - DLBE School of Choice effective for the 2019-2020 school year.
This policy would establish Mount Kisco Elementary School as a DLBE School of Choice. Students in grades one through five whose home school is MKES would continue to attend MKES should their families choose to participate in DLBE. MKES students whose parents choose not to enroll in DLBE will be provided a traditional classroom setting, either at MKES or another BCSD elementary school depending on the number of students per grade level. Families in other elementary attendance areas may elect for their children to participate in this academically and culturally enriching program.
While the majority of students enter DLBE in grade one, there are some students for whom it may be appropriate and beneficial to enter the program at a higher grade level, for example, whose home language is Spanish or students who may have had prior academic instruction in Spanish.
DLBE is a bilingual education program in which all academic instruction is delivered in English and Spanish.
The overall goals of DLBE are to promote:
- High academic achievement
- Biliteracy and bilingualism
- A community of learners with shared interest in cultural proficiency
An article published by the National Institutes of Health concluded, “two-way immersion education is beneficial for both minority- and majority-language elementary students.” It is asserted:
Bilingual two-way immersion programs provide an effective instructional approach for both minority-language and majority-language elementary-school students. Students … show improved math and reading performance... (The) ability to communicate in two languages and interact with a larger proportion of the population is likely an asset for these students as they enter an increasingly globalized world. We conclude that two-way immersion models are beneficial in multiple ways ... (Biling, 2013, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health)
Research consistently points to advantages for bilinguals, including:
- enhanced cognitive skills
- ability to employ necessary cognitive and social strategies
- use of situational clues to promote understanding
- enhanced abilities in divergent thinking (the understanding that there is more than one way to look at a problem, and therefore more than one solution is possible)
- ability to think flexibly and abstractly about language
- enjoyment of linguistic possibilities
- early emergence of the concept that there are multiple ways to express the same idea
- transfer of skills and knowledge from one language to another
Pending Board approval, there will be various opportunities announced for families to learn more about and experience the DLBE program to determine if they wish for their children to apply.
Questions regarding the DLBE School of Choice may be directed to:
Mrs. Inas Morsi-Hogans, Principal, Mount Kisco Elementary School
Email: imorsihogans4368@bcsdny.org
Phone (914) 666-2677
Ms. Adrienne Viscardi, Director of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Programs
Email: aviscardi1133@bcsdny.org
Phone: (914) 241-6080
Dr. Christopher Manno, Superintendent of Schools
Email: cmanno4173@bcsdny.org
Phone: (914) 241-6010