Robert Garcia, Board President; Elliott Duchon, Superintendent; Dave Doubravsky, Assistant Superintendent, Education Services; Martha Gomez, Director, Language Services and Student Programs; Esther Askew, Bilingual Resource Teacher
Jurupa’s K-12 Dual Immersion Program is a unique educational program designed to develop bilingualism and biliteracy in English and Spanish. This program was selected to assist English learners achieve academically with the goal of closing the achievement gap. Students in this program work on the same California standards as everyone else, and they become fluent in two languages, linguistically and academically. Furthermore, this is an inclusive program. In addition to providing ELs the opportunity to learn in their primary language, it also provides English-only students the opportunity to learn a second language. This is of great significance to both groups since biliterate skills give students more options in careers worldwide and research shows that the study of a second language helps develop strong cognitive skills. It’s important to note that an additional benefit of this program (bilingualism) extends into older adulthood by delaying Alzheimer’s disease by approximately five years.