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Op/Ed: Time to consolidate the dual immersion program

May 23, 2012 12:00 pm by Guest contributor

Berkeley’s Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program, which was developed primarily to increase the academic achievement of English Learners, is one of the crown jewels of Berkeley’s public school system. The TWI program has been a success, but the fact that it is dispersed across three schools has stifled its potential, argue three authors in an Opinionator column published today. Read why they think a consolidated TWI school would solve many of the most pressing problems with the current implementation of TWI.

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  • berkopinonator

    If learning Spanish is such a good idea, why don’t we offer a Spanish class to all elementary school students instead of just the select few?

  • Anonymous

     Because that’s not expensive enough, doesn’t increase the size of the administration, and doesn’t support whatever silly pet project some group of administrators wants to push at the further expense of students who aren’t underachieving.

  • jjohannson

    So, students who are in TWI are underachievers?  You get one chance to apologize to my nine-year-old.  Make it count.

  • Anonymous

    I seriously doubt your kid is an underachiever.

  • Disappoined by BUSD

    TWI is only about 1/2 English Learners  (Spanish Speaking Children). TWI has a HUGE drop out rate. Moreover, LeConte is the last TWI program to fill every year because few Spanish Speaking families live near LeConte. Most TWI families like near Rosa Parks and Thousand Oaks…Why chose LeConte?

    This consolidation will cost over $100,000 in bussing, and cause even more kids to drop out.

    The research on TWI is deeply flawed. TWI students are not tracked by whether or not they were English Learners, just that they were in TWI.

    This is a bad idea.