June 4 is graduation day in the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) and while it is a special day for all graduating students, whether they have completed their high school careers, are moving up to high school or moving on to middle school, this year marks a very special milestone for the district. For the first time ever, SCUSD will graduate a Dual Language Immersion (DLI) class from elementary school.
Since 2020, a small group of students at Scott Lane Elementary School has learned in not just one language, but two. The students began mastering the art of reading, writing and speaking in both Spanish and English in first grade during COVID virtual learning, when 90% of their education was in Spanish.
Over their elementary school careers, they have continued their education in both languages, eventually learning in a 50/50-Spanish/English split in fourth and fifth grades. Now, they’re moving on to middle school, where they will have the opportunity to continue their education in both languages.
Growing SCUSD’s DLI Program
That continuation into middle school was not a given. Just a few years ago, SCUSD was faced with a decision on whether to continue the DLI program at higher levels or conclude the students’ Spanish education at fifth grade.
Ultimately, it was the students who helped make the choice. Gustavo Estrada, a fourth-grade teacher at Scott Lane, said that about seven of this year’s graduates spoke to the school board in both English and Spanish in 2024 and implored the board to continue the program.
“They stood there in front of a full crowd, in front of adults, and they were able to speak and really argue for what they wanted,” recalled Estrada. “They were able to stand in front of these adults that are in charge of our schools and try to persuade them … They’re advocating for what they want and what they need, because they have the confidence now in both languages to do it.”
Scott Lane Principal Claudia Corpus was among the school administrators organizing the school community to speak at the board meetings. She says it was also something meaningful for the parents of the DLI students.
“Some of our parents told their stories of what they’ve been through and being able to see their children be proud of having a primary language other than English,” said Corpus. “That wasn’t the case when we were going through school; [another language] was not a positive thing to have.”
DLI Program Much More Impactful than Previous Classes for English Learners
Scott Lane’s DLI program is a significant shift from its former program, which siloed off native Spanish speakers in an effort to bring them up to speed in English. This program creates an environment of mutual learning among students.
“The teacher is only one person, but their other teachers are their classmates,” said Corpus. “They learn so much more from each other than they do from the teacher because they want to communicate. They want to build those relationships. They want to play. I would say they even learn more from their classmates than they do from us.”
Estrada, who also worked at Scott Lane when the previous model was in place, says the DLI program has had dramatic results across the board.
“A lot more kids were proficient in both math and reading at the end of the year test than the previous three years just because of the model,” said Estrada. “For the Spanish speakers, you’re getting academic language in their primary language, so they are learning the academics from kindergarten. For the English speakers, they’re picking up the language as well. And you just see how quickly they catch up as the years progress. You see this catch up in academics a lot faster than what we noticed in the traditional bilingual, which we had before.”
Building Confidence in Students
Perhaps even more impactful is the confidence that the program instills in students at a very young age.
“Haley is a very outgoing and extroverted child,” said Bari Mandelbaum, whose son, Haley Cornette, is among the graduating fifth graders. “We knew that he was getting comfortable with the language when he would march up to Spanish-speaking families in the playground and start, ‘¿Hablas Español?’ and then just start talking to them, and was super proud of his own language, and was excited to get to have more children he could play with without a language barrier.”
Mandelbaum says that Haley has ADHD and a 504 plan, but he is “thriving” in the DLI program thanks in large part to the teachers at Scott Lane.
“He’s thriving from the quality of the education and the structuring of the educational program. He’s doing fantastically well in school,” said Mandelbaum. “We don’t have any behavior problems with him. We don’t have any grade problems with him … I really think a lot of that’s a testament to him as a person and as a child, but it’s also a testament to the quality of the program and the quality of the education.”
Mandelbaum has been so happy with the program that her daughter, Lior Cornette, is enrolled in first grade.
The Cornette children are just an example of the growth that Scott Lane’s DLI program has experienced. Last fall, the school enrolled its first DLI transitional kindergarten class along with two classrooms of DLI students at every grade level from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Scott Lane’s DLI graduates will attend Buchser Middle School next year, where, if all goes well, they will be Buchser’s first DLI graduating class in 2028.
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