Bellevue School District is one of ten districts and two tribal compact schools to be awarded a grant to support Dual Language Programs under the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) K-12 Dual Language Grant Program.
The $15,800 grant will be used to help prepare teachers to instruct in the dual language program, to help recruit bilingual teachers, and to purchase supplementary instructional materials. The OSPI grants, totaling $900,000 were made possible by Substitute House Bill 1445, passed in 2017.
“These grants will help students learn practically by applying English and a second language to core subjects,” said Chris Reykdal, Superintendent of Public Instruction. “There is a need for all students to learn two languages,” Reykdal said. “In my six year vision for restructuring K-12 education in Washington state, I call for all students to learn a second language, and to begin that learning in Kindergarten, if not earlier. Knowing how to communicate in multiple languages, especially in our increasingly diverse and globally interdependent world, is crucial to student success beyond high school.