Schools

D.H. Stanton Awarded $15K Dual Immersion Education Grant

'The Dual Immersion program would support D.H. Stanton's work by filling those achievement gaps and preparing students who are lifelong learners, leaders, and global competitors who are bilingual in nature.'

Editor's note: Six new dual immersion elementary schools, including D.H. Stanton Elementary School, were recently awarded start-up grants to support materials and professional development in the 2013-2014 school year. These schools will receive $15,000 each for start-up and training costs to implement dual immersion instruction in languages deemed vital to metro Atlanta's and Georgia's economic development. D.H. Stanton's program is centered around Spanish.

by Dr. Clara Taylor

PEOPLESTOWN — As D.H. Stanton rises to excellence, a program like Dual Immersion would fit very well in creating the global leaders of tomorrow. As we continue to remain current in educational practices and research, this program will align seamlessly with the implementation of the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and the Leader in Me initiative. As a school, we are interested in building lifelong learners and leaders, and research points to the 21st Century student not only benefiting from technological based learning, but also becoming bilingual global competitors. Consistently, research has shown that dual immersion helps students quickly increase their vocabulary and language learning, activating the same centers of the brain that process learning in early childhood. 

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This initiative will prepare D.H. Stanton students for the future International Baccalaureate requirements of Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and Maynard H. Jackson High School, while strengthening the international theme of the Jackson cluster.  This program will bring yet another gem to the Atlanta Public Schools, one which will help our students to shine bright, and take pride in themselves, and also the community in which they live.

Creating a culture of tolerance, diversity, and multiculturalism, D.H. Stanton’s aim is to teach the whole-child, provide excellent learning opportunities, and to instill qualities of citizenship, leadership, and courage. We want our students to take risks, try something new, and face challenges presented to them with confidence and ease.

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This approach has seen success in Title I schools, schools very similar to D.H. Stanton. Research suggests that integrated school environments make a difference for low SES/minority students and help reduce intolerance of different attitudes in society. However, research also indicates that merely having diverse children share a campus does very little to promote equity, particularly in terms of reducing the achievement gap without explicit efforts at educating for diversity. The Dual Immersion program would support D.H. Stanton’s work by filling those achievement gaps and preparing students who are lifelong learners, leaders, and global competitors who are bilingual in nature.

We selected Spanish as our language of choice for the following reason: According to research, well over 35 million Spanish speakers in the United States, and with more than 40 percent of the population growth being among the Hispanic people, the stage is set for an enormous increase in Spanish usage in the United States. More than 51 million people in the United States today speak Spanish, a number comprised of 45 million Hispanics and some 6 million students of the Spanish language. This makes the U.S. host to the largest Spanish-speaking community in the world, outside of Mexico. More people in the U.S. speak Spanish than those speaking Chinese, French and Italian combined.

Nearly one in every seven people living in the U.S. speak Spanish, and it's predicted that by 2050, nearly 100 million people in the United States alone — one in three — will speak Spanish. Our students stand a greater chance of meeting and interacting with someone that is able to speak Spanish. We want to make sure that our students are prepared and highly competitive in a global society.

Dr. Taylor is principal of D.H. Stanton Elementary School.


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