Tuesday morning was a busy one for Escuela Key Elementary School in Arlington, Va.
As students filed into their classrooms, teachers and school leaders prepared to host a group of important visitors, including Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and education leaders from South Africa, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.
Their visit was a precursor to the International Summit on the Teaching Profession, a three-day-long event for education leaders from across the world to discuss educational issues and strategies for student improvement. Throughout the week, education leaders will focus on elevating and enhancing the teaching profession, educating for global and cultural competence and civic engagement, and ensuring equitable access to technology so it enhances learning.
The education secretary invited Education Week to follow him throughout the conference as he meets with education leaders from around the globe.
Cardona wanted to start a handful of school visits with Escuela Key because of its dual-language program, in which kindergarten through 5th grade students spend half the day learning in English and half learning in Spanish.
Escuela Key 鈥渋s a great model to develop a strong second language,鈥� Cardona said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 showing our international colleagues that we also recognize the importance of language development and the role that has.鈥�
69传媒 showcase bilingual skills
The students鈥� bilingual skills were on full display throughout the day. As the international visitors entered the school, a group of 3rd grade students sang a medley of songs in Spanish ending with 鈥淟os Ni帽os del Mundo Queremos Cantar,鈥� or, 鈥淭he Children of the World Want to Sing.鈥�
Later, during visits to 1st grade, 4th grade, and art classrooms, students showed off their language skills, swiftly transitioning from English to Spanish and back to English again.
The elementary school, in which 61 percent of students are English learners, has offered a full immersion dual-language program since the mid-1990s. The idea is to start off all students, including native Spanish and English speakers and students who speak other languages, with strong linguistic skills so they can easily pick up more languages as they move through middle and high school, Escuela Key Principal Marleny Perdomo said.
鈥淔or kids who are developing their English language, they鈥檙e not losing their home language,鈥� Perdomo said. 鈥淚f they are speakers of another language, of which we have many, now they鈥檙e adding [a third language]. It鈥檚 a win-win no matter how you鈥檙e looking at it.鈥�
The program also equips students with social-emotional skills as they learn about cultures other than their own. For example, students learn about El Ratoncito P茅rez, Spain鈥檚 version of the tooth fairy that takes the form of a mouse, Perdomo said.
鈥淔or kids who are learning Spanish for the first time, they鈥檙e really able to learn how to learn a language, which, cognitively speaking, is really difficult,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd then they have the opportunity to learn about the cultures because every time we鈥檙e talking about language there鈥檚 always a cultural aspect.鈥�
The education leaders from other countries were impressed. Jan Tinetti, New Zealand鈥檚 minister of education, described the school鈥檚 classrooms as 鈥渧ibrant.鈥�
鈥淓very young person 鈥� knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing and what the purpose of it was,鈥� Tinetti said. 鈥淭hey were genuinely excited, and they鈥檙e learning as well.鈥�
Goal is for U.S. students to excel internationally
Cardona has anchored the Education Department鈥檚 work over the past year in its 鈥淩aise the Bar: Lead the World鈥� initiative, an effort to raise America鈥檚 rankings in educational achievement.
U.S. students ranked lower than in math performance on the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment, the most recent international assessment of student academic performance, out of 78 that participated. American students , falling behind only eight of 76 education systems. But the education secretary feels that there鈥檚 a lot of room to grow, especially as the pandemic caused record drops in national student achievement in both math and reading.
During a debrief session following the visitors鈥� tour of classrooms at Escuela Key, a delegate from South Africa spoke about how his country has students learning seven to nine languages. That stuck out to Cardona, as students in the U.S. are largely limited to learning Spanish or French.
Nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population speaks only English, according to the U.S. Census.
There were about 3,600 dual-language immersion programs like Escuela Key鈥檚 in the U.S. as of the 2021-22 school year, . But 60 percent were located in just five states鈥擟alifornia, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah鈥攁nd 80 percent are in Spanish.
鈥淲hile this is a model program, it demonstrates how far behind we are internationally,鈥� Cardona said.
Cardona has made multilingual education a priority for his department. During the visit to Escuela Key, he spoke to teachers who told him about how it can be a struggle to ensure students have equitable access to programs like the one at Escuela Key, and that having a fully multilingual workforce presents challenges. For example, some teachers who are fluent in Spanish might not be as strong in English.
The secretary said the Education Department is working to improve its Title III programming, which provides federal funding for the instruction of English learners and immigrant students. He specifically pointed to his proposal to move management of Title III from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to the Office of English Language Acquisition, which has more experience working with English learners and immigrant students.
The Biden administration is also looking to grow funding for the Title III program to $1.2 billion in its proposed 2024 budget, which would be an increase of $305 million. That鈥檚 in addition to $100 million in proposed funding to help schools hire more multilingual teachers and other staff and grow the pipeline of multilingual educators.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to say we鈥檝e been doing this for 20 years,鈥� Cardona said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 another thing to say we鈥檙e going to make sure the dollars go to what we鈥檙e hearing from teachers that they need, what we鈥檙e hearing from principals that they need, to make programs like this more successful.鈥�
