The Latino Education Gap: Dual Language Programs Offer Hope

In the latest installment of our ongoing series, we explore why some educators believe an increasingly popular model of bilingual teaching can help close the Latino education achievement gap.

By Jill Replogle, Fronteras

SAN DIEGO — The hilltop playground at Los Altos Elementary School has an enviable panoramic view. To the south, you can see over the border fence that separates Mexico from the U.S. to the neighborhoods of Tijuana.

In the other direction, you can just make out the skyscrapers of downtown San Diego.

Many of the kids at Los Altos are familiar with both of these worlds, and some will grow up fully fluent in the languages of both. This year, Los Altos helped them by starting a dual language immersion program.

About 90 kindergarten and 1st grade students spend half their day learning in Spanish, and the other half in English.

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