Why are there no French dual language programs at neighborhood schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I lotteried for both Stokes programs because I'll take what I can get. But I strongly prefer French and would drive quite far for it.

Montgomery County

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/immersion-french.aspx

[Anonymous]

OP, to answer your question, it's not about demand for a language immersion school. The challenge is the limited supply of educators and administrators in the target language.

Teacher licensing for DCPS used to turn people off because it required silly things like the Praxis test in English for people teaching in other languages. That's like making the art teacher pass the PE teacher exam. Educators could more easily go to MD and Virginia public schools or charter schools in DC. Principals with immersion experience are few to begin with and almost all in Spanish. DCPS is a very small population compared to the surrounding areas. It's hard for it to compete.

There's also a huge difference between learning to speak a language as a subject, like math, and learning USING a language by taking math class in Spanish. The ultimate bar is bi-literacy, but the American public school system isn't designed to facilitate that.

It's not for lack of interest, it's lack of professional capabilities.

[Anonymous]

OP, PG county has 2 high-performing French immersion school, but then you might have to get over your hang ups about PG county. PG also has a countywide TAG program. The only drawback, for some, is that it's PG county.