There are two sides to our Summit County schools!

How cool!  The newest program in the Summit County elementary school system will go far beyond teaching English to Spanish-speaking kids.  It will also teach Spanish to the English-speaking population.  It's called Bilingual Immersion, and it brings a number of benefits.

Instruction and classwork take place in two languages, with the non-English language used for at least half of the instructional day.  There are periods during which students and teachers use only one language, with no translation or language-mixing allowed.  Both English language learners and native English speakers work in both languages in balanced proportion, and they are together for most content instruction. 

Students would be fluent in both languages by the time they finish 5th grade.  According to Kristy Johnson, school board president, "There's a body of evidence that shows English Language Learners and native English speakers (in a dual language program) demonstrate large gains in reading and math achievement."  And you thought school was just for the three R's.  In a place like Summit County, where a growing part of the population speaks a language other than English, this is a major step in creating better community.