Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District

Two-way dual-language immersion (TWDL) programs aim to combine English speakers and speakers of a partner language in the same classroom to receive content instruction in both languages. Stated goals include bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement, and sociocultural competence. In sch...

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Main Authors: Sarah Asson, Erica Frankenberg, Clémence Darriet, Lucrecia Santibañez, Claudia Cervantes-Soon, Francesca López
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:AERA Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241310428
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author Sarah Asson
Erica Frankenberg
Clémence Darriet
Lucrecia Santibañez
Claudia Cervantes-Soon
Francesca López
author_facet Sarah Asson
Erica Frankenberg
Clémence Darriet
Lucrecia Santibañez
Claudia Cervantes-Soon
Francesca López
author_sort Sarah Asson
collection DOAJ
description Two-way dual-language immersion (TWDL) programs aim to combine English speakers and speakers of a partner language in the same classroom to receive content instruction in both languages. Stated goals include bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement, and sociocultural competence. In school districts aiming to reduce segregation, TWDL programs also can integrate students from diverse linguistic, racial, and economic backgrounds, although mounting evidence shows that equitable integration does not always happen. Using school-level enrollments and district data on TWDL program growth from 2000 to 2021, this paper describes enrollment and segregation patterns across the Los Angeles Unified School District elementary schools with TWDL programs. We find that elementary schools with TWDL programs are enrolling increasing numbers of racially, linguistically, and economically marginalized students and are generally more diverse than schools without TWDL programs, although there appear to be limits on the potential of TWDL programs to foster diversity, especially in a segregated urban context.
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spelling doaj-art-4d15871e436a4a8dafc1a1f095b2bfeb2025-01-18T07:03:26ZengSAGE PublishingAERA Open2332-85842025-01-011110.1177/23328584241310428Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School DistrictSarah AssonErica FrankenbergClémence DarrietLucrecia SantibañezClaudia Cervantes-SoonFrancesca LópezTwo-way dual-language immersion (TWDL) programs aim to combine English speakers and speakers of a partner language in the same classroom to receive content instruction in both languages. Stated goals include bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement, and sociocultural competence. In school districts aiming to reduce segregation, TWDL programs also can integrate students from diverse linguistic, racial, and economic backgrounds, although mounting evidence shows that equitable integration does not always happen. Using school-level enrollments and district data on TWDL program growth from 2000 to 2021, this paper describes enrollment and segregation patterns across the Los Angeles Unified School District elementary schools with TWDL programs. We find that elementary schools with TWDL programs are enrolling increasing numbers of racially, linguistically, and economically marginalized students and are generally more diverse than schools without TWDL programs, although there appear to be limits on the potential of TWDL programs to foster diversity, especially in a segregated urban context.https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241310428
spellingShingle Sarah Asson
Erica Frankenberg
Clémence Darriet
Lucrecia Santibañez
Claudia Cervantes-Soon
Francesca López
Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District
AERA Open
title Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District
title_full Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District
title_fullStr Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District
title_full_unstemmed Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District
title_short Racial, Linguistic, and Economic Diversity Across Schools with Two-Way Dual Language Immersion Programs: Evidence from the Los Angeles Unified School District
title_sort racial linguistic and economic diversity across schools with two way dual language immersion programs evidence from the los angeles unified school district
url https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241310428
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