The Public Schools of Edison Township is proud to offer a Dual Language Academy (DLA) located at Washington Elementary School.  In this dual language program, students are taught literacy and academic content in both English and Spanish.  The DLA is a full-time program of instruction running from Grade K through 5th grade that provides structured English language instruction, as well as instruction in Spanish, in all core content areas.

All Edison School District students are eligible to apply for the program prior to the start of kindergarten. Each Fall, we create a new Kindergarten cohort of language learners who are already native speakers of either English or Spanish.  These DLA cohorts continue together through 5th grade.  As it is anticipated that many students in the program and their families will not speak the target language (either English or Spanish) at the start of the program, lessons are designed for students who are beginning to learn the language.

The Dual Language Academy offers students an opportunity to become bilingual and biliterate in both English and Spanish.  The program integrates native English-speaking students with native Spanish-speaking students for instruction, which is presented in both languages.  It is supported by teachers who are fluent in English, Spanish or both languages.

The goals of the Dual Language Academy are aligned with the Three Pillars of Dual Language Education:

1. Bilingualism & Biliteracy: Students will gain the ability to speak, read and write proficiently in two languages.  Fluency in both reading and writing will be presented through academic performance that is at or above grade level, in both languages.

2. Grade-level Academic Achievement: The development of high levels of proficiency in the student’s dominant as well as second language.

3. Multiculturalism: To broaden individual perspective and achieve understanding and appreciation for different cultural backgrounds.

The Dual Language Academy follows a research-based method called the “50-50” model.  This model works as follows:

1. Both English speakers and native-Spanish speakers are enrolled in each cohort

2. Two teachers who share the responsibility for teaching all subjects in the curriculum: a Bilingually-certified teacher will teach in Spanish, and the Elementary-certified teacher will teach the same curriculum in English

3. One class receives instruction in Spanish for the first half of the day, while the other class is simultaneously receiving instruction in English.  The classes switch for the second half of the day.  At the beginning of each week, the students “flip-flop” their schedule, so they will continue the previous week’s instruction as planned, however in the other target language. 

At the completion of elementary school, students will be on their way to becoming biliterate and bilingual in both Spanish and English.  Research has shown that this Dual Language model produces high rates of success in teaching grade-level content while developing impressive levels of language proficiency in students.

Students begin the program in Kindergarten and remain in it through Grade 5.  Because of the incremental development of fluency for children in the program, a limited number of students can be admitted into the program, especially in the early years.  The willingness to commit to long-term participation in the dual language program is essential.  Families must commit to six years of participation.

Spanish was selected as the partner language for English instruction for a multitude of reasons.  It is the 2nd most widely-spoken language in the US and 4th in the world.  It provides a good springboard to learning other Romance languages, including French, Italian, and Latin.  Also, many of our district staff speak Spanish, and many of our current instructional programs offer resources in Spanish.