Dual Language
Eagle County School District values the cultural and linguistic diversity in our community. With almost half of our students entering school already speaking a language other than English, we have the opportunity to be able to develop both English and Spanish in all of our students.
Eagle County School District offers programs that provide Spanish language development in the form of a 50:50 Dual Language Program. In these programs, all students are language learners and all teachers are language development teachers in one language or the other. These schools not only focus on language development, but also high academic achievement in both English and Spanish, as well. Students become bilingual, biliterate and bicultural throughout their school career reaching the goal of being academically proficient in English and another language as demonstrated through the Seal of Biliteracy. Students exhibit bilingual leadership in their community and are prepared for global citizenship.
Dual Language 50:50 programs provide the following benefits for all students:
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Increased cognitive stimulation
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Higher levels of engagement
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Increased metalinguistic awareness and abilities to develop additional languages
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Fewer disciplinary referrals
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Higher self esteem
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Higher value of diversity.
Lindholm-Leary (2001, 2009); Thomas, Collier & Collier (2010)
Our schools have also observed that students in dual language programs tend to:
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Learn English at quicker rate
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Have more strategies with which to tackle challenges
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Have more ease and confidence when working with others from different backgrounds
50/50 Dual Language is provided at the following schools.
- Avon Elementary
- Edwards Elementary
- Eagle Valley Elementary
- Gypsum Elementary
- Homestake Peak School
- Berry Creek Middle School
- Eagle Valley Middle School
- Gypsum Creek Middle School
