Dual Spanish Immersion

Priority Strategy A of the new Strategic Plan calls for the district to provide "flexible pathways that maximize learner engagement to grow students' strengths and talents." These new academic pathways broaden the choices and opportunities Edina Public Schools offers our learners. Additionally, parent surveys have indicated high interest in an additional language program, specifically Spanish, and in STEAM programming, too.

The district has collected feedback and information through many avenues over the past year, all of which have informed the development of the proposals. This has included: surveys of families and staff, focus groups with students, small family group meetings, Thought Exchange event, family night for Latino families, sharing of recommendations in meetings with staff and elementary families at considered schools, presentations at School Board meetings.

There are two spaces that are not currently used by the Early Learning Center for their programming. These spaces would allow us to have two kindergarten classrooms (44-48 students total) without diminishing any of the programming happening in the Early Learning Center. During the first year, construction could be completed at Countryside Elementary, providing room to grow the programming beginning in year two.

Like most immersion programs, we would begin to build the two-way Spanish immersion at the kindergarten level, and then add two sections of the next grade level each year as students progress. That means it would be 2027-28 before the program is full-scale K-5.

The plan is for Countryside to have five sections of each grade level: three English-speaking sections and two sections of two-way Spanish immersion, in addition to Continuous Progress classrooms. This is a "strand" model, as opposed to having an immersion school.

The district's plan is to create a pathway similar to the current French immersion program, with an extended Spanish immersion pathway in middle school with some core content taught in the language. There would also be a subsequent Spanish pathway at EHS.

The district conducted capacity and enrollment studies of all elementary sites. Countryside fits the construction criteria for adding new classrooms. It also offers adequate space for traffic flow and its location fits well with district transportation logistics. Current Countryside families, who have made important connections with their school and staff, will not be displaced to accommodate the new program.