SANTILLANA USA - Guiding Principles Sampler

8 4 GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR DUAL LANGUAGE EDUCATION The third edition of Guiding Principles has been updated to reflect the growing use of a variety of partner languages in dual language programs in the United States, but it is still likely to reflect the reality that programs using Spanish are the most numerous and have therefore been the context for identifying best practices up to this point. See the Practitioner’s Perspective sidebars to read the viewpoints of three practitioners on using Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education with partner languages other than Spanish. It should be noted that this volume uses the term program to refer to each school that offers dual language instruction, regardless of whether the program functions as a strand within a school or as a whole school. Because so many activities that are central to the effective implementation of dual language education occur at the school level and may vary from school to school even within the same district, it is important to anchor the principles and their associated key points at the school level. This is not to say that district-level activities and resources do not play an important role in the development and maintenance of dual language programs; on the contrary, district support is vital, and this is noted through the referencing of district-level personnel, initiatives, and resour- ces as appropriate throughout the document. Moreover, in many cases, district-level participation is required for a program to achieve the status of exemplary practice. Finally, in implementing the guiding principles, it is important to understand that context is a vital lens through which to view one’s own program. What works in one community or with a particular population of students or teachers may not work as effectively in another community or with another population. Program leaders must keep context in mind as they think about the design, implementation, or refinement of their own program. Organization of This Volume As in the previous editions, the guiding principles are organized into seven strands, reflecting the major dimensions of program design and implementation. 1. Program Structure 2. Curriculum 3. Instruction A Practitioner’s Perspective In the Los Angeles Unified School District, Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education lays the foundation for program implementation, reflection, and refinement across all the language programs. This document and its underlying principles set unified guidelines for our various program languages: Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, French, Armenian, and Arabic. This enables us to create a shared understanding of program implementation across languages and various dual language education programs, such as two-way immersion, maintenance bilingual education, and foreign language immersion. Teacher leaders and administrators from our programs meet periodically to use this resource for self- reflection, program evaluation, and planning throughout the school year. For each strand, the principles, key points, and indicators for program implementation and alignment have been very helpful in understanding where we are as a district or as individual schools and what we need to do to get to the next stage of implementation. For language- specific needs, the district provides additional opportunities for training for teachers to address curriculum, instruction, and specific issues related to the target language. Anne Kim, Los Angeles Unified School District GDP INSIDE OK-Nov1.indd 4 12/03/18 1:17 p.m.