Brewer asks about language continuity and expanding programs

Thank you very much.

One question.

I've been listening online, so I heard all these great discussions.

My question is, I have some who managed to get from early childhood all the way through middle school French, but not Russian.

In other words, they'd have early childhood Russian, then they have elementary, but not beyond that.

So is that really possible to continue the language?

Because it's not possible in School District 3.

So how do you make that happen?

Or other languages, you know.

I could speak to that.

So that's something that we're really committed to.

And ensuring that there's continuity from pre-K to 12 and that students graduate with a New York State seal of biliteracy ultimately.

We work really closely with superintendents in the community.

So, for example, in a situation where we have a middle school and community is looking for a feeder, right, to go to high school, we work closely with superintendents.

We have with superintendents and principals in the community.

Our office specifically has been able to provide a school allocation memorandum over the past four years for the revitalization of bilingual programs, which includes a planning year for schools opening up a bilingual program.

And we use the data to inform that.

So that has been a very specific focus of ours.

For example, we've been able to expand in District 15 this year, it's continuity for Italian.

So we can now say we have pre-K Italian, we have elementary Italian, and this year we'll have middle school Italian.

That's just one example, right?

And so it's something, again, we look at the data, we look at the patterns,

we take in community input, and then we work with superintendents and principals and then have them participate in our bilingual revitalization efforts, which means that the school gets professional learning for a year on how to plan for the

program, on how to hire teachers, on curriculum, on all of the pieces that will lead to a sustainable program.

Because that is like a key piece, is a program that's going to open and it's going to stand the test of time, not close within a year or two.