DIA FAQ

What is a charter school?

A charter school is a public school that is governed by parents, foundations or private groups. Charter schools typically focus on a special curriculum approach; our school's particular emphasis is dual, or two-way immersion instruction in English/Spanish.

Do I have to pay tuition?

A charter school is still a public school. No tuition is required.

How does the school receive funding?

A charter school receives tax dollars allocated for public education for each child it serves as well as being a potential recipient of grant opportunities.

How do charter schools differ from traditional public schools?

Charter schools differ from traditional public schools in that they are established and run by parents, teachers, principals, and/or education experts. Students who attend charter schools do so by choice; likewise, educators who teach at charter schools also do so by choice.

What is Dual Immersion?

Also called two-way immersion, it is a system where approximately equal numbers of students from language majority (English) and language minority (Spanish) homes are integrated and receive content and literacy instruction through both languages.

How does our school work?

Our School will serve 450 students grades K-7. There will be 50 students per grade divided into 2 classrooms with smaller groups for subjects like reading. Classes are always an equal mix of Spanish dominant and English dominant children.

DIA will follow the Utah State Core Curriculum and will deliver the academic content in both Spanish and English (see Language Acquisition below). In addition to the State Core. Educational materials and texts used in Mexican elementary schools and contributed by the Mexican Consulate will provide supplemental content to the DIA curriculum. Finally, a rich variety of multicultural materials will be integrated throughout the curriculum to ensure DIA meets its mission to value diversity and prepare cross-culturally aware graduates for leadership roles in our global community. read more...

How does the Dual Language part work?

Picture: two 2nd grade classrooms - one is the Spanish room with a teacher who speaks only in Spanish to the children and one is the English room with a teacher who speaks only English to the children. To reiterate an earlier point, the Spanish-dominant and English-dominant students are integrated within the classrooms. Both classrooms are working on the same content, but half of the students in Spanish and half in English. Each week, they change classrooms and continue on with the curriculum but in the opposite language. There will be some review of content from the previous week but in the other language and possibly with different instructional tools.

Why is this school being created?

For all students, bilingual individuals have demonstrated increased cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking and problem-solving skills. Speaking more than one language is important in leadership roles and being prepared to thrive and not just survive in our diverse community.

For Spanish-dominant students our school will improve scores and decrease the achievement gap. Dual or Two-way immersion programs have proven effective for language minority students achieving at or above grade level in literacy and content areas. Students also maintain their heritage, language, and culture.

For English-dominant students there is an ever-growing need to be able to communicate with the growing percentage of our community who speak Spanish. Students learn to appreciate cultures other than their own and be a part of the formation of a larger, more pluralistic community.

Has Dual Immersion been proven to be an effective education model?

Yes. In large-scale studies over many years, university researchers have documented a very high rate of success in achieving academic proficiency for both Spanish and English-speaking children in programs similar to ours. Typically, both Spanish and English speakers achieve native or near-native fluency in their new language. On standardized academic tests, both groups outperform their counterparts who have been educated in monolingual classrooms. Spanish speakers also outperform their counterparts who have been educated in traditional bilingual classrooms. For additional information please visit the center for applied linguistics web site at www.crede.ucsc.edu.

How do Spanish speakers specifically benefit from this program?

Magdalena Fittoria, a first-grade teacher in a two way immersion program, said it well in an Oct. 3, 1997, article in the San Jose Mercury News: "In a regular English-speaking classroom, the native Spanish-speakers would be the kids who'd feel they don't fit in. But here, they're gaining self-confidence because not only do they understand, they're also challenged to help those who don't by translating and leading in-group activities. Meanwhile, they're learning English by interacting with their peers. It's really a two-way immersion. There's a real exchange that's taking place on both levels."

Spanish-speakers get the chance to advance academically and socially while becoming bilingual. In this model, all students have the opportunity to be both first language models and second language learners. They can maintain their first language, Spanish, while learning a second language, English, at a time when their brains are most receptive to language learning. Spanish-speakers also gain socially by making friendships across cultural, ethnic and linguistic boundaries and are found to hold positive attitudes about people from other cultures.

How do English speakers specifically benefit from this program?

English speakers get the chance to acquire a new language in the years when their brains are most receptive to language learning. Most become highly proficient in the target language, a standard that most adult Americans, who typically began to study a foreign language in middle or high school, can never hope to attain. English speakers also gain socially by making friendships across cultural, ethnic, and linguistic boundaries. Researchers who study this phenomenon find that English speakers in language-immersion programs hold positive attitudes about people from other cultures. In this model, all students have the opportunity to be both first language models and second language learners.