In 2014, Atlanta Public Schools (APS) launched the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Program in selected elementary schools. Under the APS DLI program model, half of students’ K-8 classes are taught in Spanish, and the other half are taught in English. Entrance to the program has been based on a lottery starting in kindergarten. Since its inception, the program has added a grade level each school year and has expanded to now include approximately 1,800 APS students in grades Pre-k through eighth. Next year DLI students will matriculate at NAHS for the first time.
In the APS North Atlanta Cluster, DLI was launched in the 2015-2016 school year at E. Rivers and Garden Hills Elementary Schools, aiming to better meet the district’s diverse needs and bridge the achievement gap of a growing English learner population. Additionally, there was strong community support for a DLI option in public schools. In 2016-2017 Bolton Academy, Morris Brandon Elementary and Sarah Smith Elementary were added to the program. Although it nitially began as a K-12 program, in 2019 APS initiated a DLI Pre-K program now at Garden Hills with plans to extend this to Sarah Smith Elementary next year. Since the DLI program originated at E. Rivers and Garden Hills, its cohort entering North Atlanta next year will be limited to around 50 students. In future years, however, there will be approximately 140-175 DLI students enrolling in 9th grade at NAHS.
As DLI students are often with the same group of students from kindergarten through high school, they form very close friendships and connections with each other. Riley Sipe, an eighth-grade DLI student, values the tight-knit community DLI offers and has made long-lasting friendships with other students in the program. The program is no easy feat, however. The DLI classes in Spanish are entirely in Spanish and unlike traditional language classes in high school and middle school, students learn academic content for subjects such as science in Spanish rather than simply learning how to speak Spanish. DLI students are also put in a Spanish class that is similar to an English Language Arts class with a focus on grammar and reading comprehension in Spanish. “We often write essays in the DLI Spanish class entirely in Spanish and are graded like English teachers grade English essays,” said Sipe. “It can be challenging because it is treated as a normal English class and is graded with the same level of rigor.”
Sutton seventh-grade DLI student Adelyn Chang, loves being bilingual and values the opportunity of being immersed in another language during the school day. As Chang can attest, the program does not come without its challenges. “The most challenging part of being in DLI is that we have to learn a subject in both English and Spanish while keeping up with the students in other classes who only have to learn the subject in English,” said Chang.
With the arrival of its first DLI cohort, several alterations to NAHS course offerings will have to be made to accommodate the requirement for core classes to be taught in Spanish. DLI students will take at least one advanced world language course and one core content course in Spanish. Next year, ninth-grade DLI students at NAHS will take Biology in Spanish and will have either AP Spanish or Spanish IV. “Through its IB program, NAHS has always demonstrated a strong commitment to world language programming,” said APS Multilingual Programs Director Margaret Mckenzie. “However, DLI requires more than a world language class each year to ensure students can achieve our APS DLI goals of biliteracy and meet the criteria for the new IB Bilingual Diploma.”
Welcoming DLI students in the Class of 2028 is only the beginning of a long-lasting program at NAHS. As the program continues to grow each year, North Atlanta can expect to have more and more literate graduates.
