by Garth Meyer
Redondo Union High School will graduate its first class of dual-immersion students June 12.
Fifty kids launched the program in 2012 as kindergartners, from both Spanish-speaking households and English-speaking.
Of these, 23 graduate Friday with a California State Seal of Biliteracy on their diploma.
Taught in both languages at school, the group began with 90 percent Spanish, becoming 50-50 in the higher grades as teachers led students toward the goal of bilingual-biliteracy.
“Listening, speaking, and reading and writing,” said Roy Lopez, Jr., executive director of educational services for Redondo Beach Unified School District.
The program was spearheaded by former district Superintendent Steven Keller, whose son had been in a dual-language program.
“Principal Jackie O’Sullivan, along with a team of teachers from Washington Elementary, engaged in a year-long study of program design, research, best practices and parent/student recruitment,” said Annette Alpern, deputy superintendent, who worked in RBUSD educational services at the time. “It is so gratifying to see how many students and families stuck with the school and school district throughout this thirteen-year journey.”
Guiding principals of the program, aside from bilingualism and biliteracy, are sociocultural competence and multicultural appreciation.
“It offers students career opportunities after they graduate from high school, and broader experiences in general,” Lopez said.
When the inaugural group of students got older, the district offered new classes at its middle schools – Spanish humanities, social studies, and a new, native-speaker Spanish class this year for 8th graders.
At the high school, many kids in the program take native-speaker Spanish classes, part of the RUHS department of world languages.
Lopez reports that a new group of 50 kindergarteners begin the dual-immersion program each year.
“Our enrollment remains strong, kindergarten to third grade, and we do experience some attrition, for a number of reasons, some families move out of the district, etc.,” he said. “(But) our enrollment numbers are healthy each year.”
The 23 graduates in the first class were previously recognized at an RUHS awards assembly. ER
