The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) announced Thursday that a record number of schools statewide will be receiving grants to establish or expand dual language immersion programs as part of Indiana’s Dual Language Immersion Program. The program provides grants to school corporations that establish or expand dual language immersion programs in Mandarin, Spanish, French, or other languages approved by IDOE.
For the 2021-2022 school year, 18 school districts were together awarded $425,000. This includes 15 school districts receiving funds to expand their programs, and three districts receiving funds to launch new programs.
Expanding programs local to our area include Valparaiso Community Schools and School City of Hammond. The programs must begin in either kindergarten or first grade and use an instructional model that provides at least 50% of its instruction in a target language and the remaining percentage of instructional time in English.