nfl jerseys Washington D.C. School District Takes Aim at Language and Cultural Education

In 2004, Washington DC enacted the Language Access Act. The law was created to improve access and participation in public schools and other nfl jerseyspublic services for residents who may have little or no English skills. The law is essentially four areas of language and access to public services address. These four areas are: Services needed and oral language, the provision have written translation of important documents in other languages, a population that were 3% or 500 persons, whichever is the shorter of the population, or, or may be served or encountered; Language Access is establishing plans to better serve these populations, and finally the creation of coordinating access to the language. The District of Columbia is now focusing on these five languages, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Amharic. As a public service in Washington DC School District has also taken steps to make adjustments in their language programs and cultural education.

Washington D.C. School's Diverse Population
Washington D.C. Schools are composed of one hundred sixty-seven schools and special learning centers. The breakdown of Washington D.C. Schools includes: one hundred one elementary schools, eleven middle schools, nine junior high schools, twenty high schools, six educational centers and twenty specialty schools. These schools educate nearly sixty-six thousand students with the majority made up of 39,161 elementary school students. Washington D.C. Schools have a rich diverse student population with more than one hundred twelve different foreign languages that represent one hundred thirty-eight different nationalities. Out of these students almost 13% can be said to belong to a language minority group and another 8% can be classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) or Non English Proficient (LEP/NEP) learners. The ethnic breakdown of the Washington D.C. School District includes nearly 85% African Americans, 10% Hispanics, 4% Whites, around 1% Asian Americans. In an effort to address the needs of this student population Washinnfl shopgton D.C. Schools center their attention on the younger learners. Washington D.C. Schools operates sixty-nine Head Start programs aimed at pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. It also runs six Montessori programs. It is now aiming at improving its language programs. Presently, Washington D.C. Schools operate eight two-way full immersion Spanish/English.
Implementing New Two-Way Language Immersion Programs
The Shepherd Elementary School, one Washington D.C. School, is working to develop new two-way language immersion programs for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. The school is seeking to enroll pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students who speak French, Spanish or other languages in an effort to create new immersion programs. The programs will begin in late August, so Washington D.C. Schools are asking for immediate responses for those parents interested in the program. Right now the plan is for students to receive either Spanish-English or French-English content taught by fluent English and target language teachers. The dual language program is connected to the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program that begins in all grades in late August, 2006. As part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program students also receive education in culture and cultural diversity which includes: Children develop an understandingcheap nfl jerseys of self within a community. Begin to identify similarities and differences among people (e.g., gender, race, culture, language, abilities); demonstrate an emerging respect for culture and ethnicity. (Will learn some words of another language. Tastes a snack that a classmate from another culture brings to school.); and demonstrate emerging awareness and respect for abilities. (Listens to a story about a child with a disability. Includes children with disabilities in play.)