CJUSD expands opportunities for students to become biliterate

Colton Joint Unified School District announced plans recently to expand its Dual Immersion program, giving more students an opportunity to become bilingual and biliterate and gain an invaluable advantage in today’s global economy.

Starting with the 2020-21 school year, Grand Terrace Elementary School will offer Dual Immersion to incoming kindergarteners. It is CJUSD’s second school to offer the program. Grimes Elementary School first introduced Dual Immersion to the district in 2007. GTES will expand the offering one grade level each year as those students advance, until it spans in kindergarten through grade 6.

Dual Immersion offers many advantages to both English learners and native English speakers. DI students at Grimes typically outperform their monolingual peers in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) scores in both English language arts and math.

 “We are excited to expand this important program and begin offering it to more students throughout the district,” Board President Patt Haro said. “Dual Immersion not only helps them to become bilingual and biliterate, it also promotes cross-cultural competency, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills and academic success.”

Following what is known as the “90:10” model, 90 percent of the school day for kindergarteners is in Spanish and 10 percent in English. The percentages shift each year until eventually half of the instructional day is in each language.

CJUSD’s Dual Immersion Program is consistent with the Global California 2030 initiative to significantly increase the number of biliterate students. The first class to enter Grimes’ DI program will graduate high school this year. Many of them will do so with the California State Seal of Biliteracy, a distinction that recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing one or more languages in addition to English and awards them with a gold seal on their diplomas.

Families do not have to live in Grand Terrace Elementary or Grimes’ attendance areas to enroll in Dual Immersion. The district is accepting applications now. Priority will be given to those who complete a transfer request before March 2. Anyone interested should go to www.cjusd.net  for more information about how to enroll.