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Report: Dual-language program students have similar success to peers in later school years

T-R FILE PHOTO - Children take time to study and play at Woodbury Elementary, home of one of the handful of public school dual-language programs in the state.

Learning another language is widely regarded as a key skill in today’s society, but some Marshalltown parents may still hesitate to enroll their child at Marshalltown School’s dual-language program starting at Woodbury Elementary.

A recent report shows that students who go through the district’s dual-language program have similar success in later academics as their peers who did not go through the program.

District Director of Instruction Lisa Stevenson said they looked at two groups of students for the report. One was dual-language program students who were never classified as English Language Leaners (ELL). The study looked at how those students performed academically later on in school compared to fellow non-ELL students who were not in the dual-language program.

“We wanted to see how those kids do when they choose to join the dual-language program,” Stevenson said. “In that case, the kids who went to Woodbury … did not show any statistically significant difference in performance on the reading, math and science tests than their peers who weren’t learning in Spanish and English.”

She said that result could help put to rest anxieties some parents have about enrolling their non-ELL student in the dual-language program.

“Sometimes, parents are skeptical or worried about putting their English-speaking kids in our Spanish-English program because they’re worried they’re going to fall behind their peers,” Stevenson said.

The second major student group the study looked at was English language learners who were in the dual-language program and those who were not.

“Those same kids exist in all of our elementary schools, but in the other schools the model we offer them is not dual-language,” Stevenson said.

Instead, kids at buildings other than Woodbury go through programs meant to help them improve their English. Meanwhile, Stevenson said Woodbury’s dual-language program not only helps students learn English, it also helps them maintain their native Spanish.

As with the non-English learners, the English language learning students in and outside of the dual-language program performed similarly on standardized math, reading and science tests later on in their academic years.

While he graduated well before the study took place, 2014 Marshalltown High School graduate and former Woodbury dual-language program student Joe Cahill said he got a lot from the program.

“It was a really interesting experience that I don’t think I fully appreciated necessarily as a student going through it at the time,” Cahill said. “I think that one really good way to explain it while I may not have learned (Spanish) a mile deep and an inch wide, I may have learned about an inch deep and a mile wide.”

He said having a basic understanding of Spanish and its root words has helped him in many situations since, including during his ACT test in high school.

Just as the more recent results show, Cahill said he didn’t feel hindered by having gone through the dual-language program later on in school.

“I definitely didn’t feel like I was behind on anything,” he said. “Going to the high school … I always felt prepared and capable of taking any of the classes that they offered.”

Stevenson said the study results are another reason parents should consider Marshalltown’s dual-language program. It is one of a handful of public school districts to offer such a program in the state.

“It’s a very special program that we’re able to offer parents here in the community,” she said. “For a long time, there’s been a misperception that it’s only for kids who don’t speak English or are learning English, but it’s for any kid who wants to be bilingual.”

Stevenson said she is also focused on ensuring the dual-language programming at Lenihan Intermediate School, Miller Middle School and beyond is of a high quality. She said the ability for students to earn the Seal of Biliteracy at graduation is another driver for students to pick up another language.

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