Foreign Languages
Learn more about teaching non-English languages, or world languages, in K-12 schools
Education
Is the Nation Making Progress in Meeting Its Foreign-Language Needs?
I reported some bad news recently about the status of foreign-language programs in the United States in Education Week. Fewer elementary schools are providing foreign-language programs now than a decade ago. This decade of decline follows a decade in which elementary schools had increasingly launched foreign-language programs.
Federal
Maryland Tackles Ways to Tap Into 'Heritage' Languages
While other states have enacted policies to discourage students from building on their native-language skills, Maryland has completed an audit of the opportunities the state has to leverage the "heritage language" skills of its residents.
Federal
Elementary Foreign-Language Instruction on Descent
The decline is likely to continue as a number of districts consider cutting back their foreign-language programs at all levels because of the recession.
Federal
Curb on Arabic Use Urged, but Rejected, in Dearborn District
The Dearborn, Mich., school district's superintendent moved quickly to clarify the system's language policy last week after a consultant said officials should "prohibit the use of any language other than English."
Education
California Wants Students to Parlez-vous Français, or Arabic, or Chinese
California's state board has adopted draft content standards for foreign language, "putting the discipline on the same level as math, science, history, and other core academic subjects" for the first time, according to this article from the Sacramento Bee.
Student Achievement
Opinion
Give Latin (and Potential Dropouts) a Chance
"Perhaps we can eliminate the most persistent of our achievement gaps by introducing Latin into failing schools with high concentrations of poor and minority students," says Baynard Woods.
Equity & Diversity
Native American Students Flag Holes in Instruction
A new federal study finds that most American Indian students know little about their own culture and receive no exposure to their native language at home or in school.
Federal
College Board Intends to Drop AP Programs in Four Subjects
Officials overseeing the Advanced Placement program have announced that they intend to drop AP classes and exams in four subject areas, in a pullback expected to affect about 12,500 students and 2,500 teachers worldwide.
Federal
New Group Formed to Promote Liberal Arts Curriculum
American high schoolers earned a D for their knowledge of history and literature on a recent survey.
Education
Report Roundup
Foreign-Language Learning
Ohio students should begin studying foreign languages as early as kindergarten and receive uninterrupted, continual instruction in a foreign language.
Curriculum
Foreign-Languages Acquisition a Vital Part of District’s Mission
The 8,000-student Glastonbury school district outside Hartford, Conn., is now viewed as a model for meeting the demand for graduates with language skills and an understanding of other countries and cultures.
Law & Courts
Mideast-Themed Schools Raise Curricular, Church-State Issues
Two charter schools declare that their intentions are mainstream—and completely legal—and that they will be under the supervision of their local school districts.
Federal
iPods and Cellphones
K-12 educators are beginning to harness the learning powers of iPods and other portable devices in very practical ways.