In a study session with an administrator from the Bainbridge Island School District, the Mercer Island School Board began studying the topic of expanding world languages at the elementary school level at its Sept. 9 board meeting.

Bainbridge Island Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Julie Goldsmith brought a presentation to the board providing an overview of why BISD began the study of Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES).

Goldsmith said BISD’s process of looking into FLES began after its last three world language program reviews recommended early second language instruction, while survey data from parents, collected during the program reviews, showed strong interest in a FLES model.

“The research is really clear that students learn best if they can start that study in the elementary school,” Goldsmith told the board.

Two years ago, BISD started an innovations committee that researched effective FLES models, curriculum design, cost analysis and the impact on current instructional programs. The goal was to bring FLES to all students across the district.

Elementary schools in the Glastonbury School District in Connecticut served as models, where elementary foreign language programs date back to the late 1950’s. Glastonbury’s FLES program featured a Spanish curriculum taught three times a week for twenty minutes each day from first grade through fifth grade.

Twenty minutes a day three times a week may not sound like enough time to learn a language, but it could provide significant impact on a young mind, with the philosophy being the younger the learner, the easier the retention.

For Bainbridge Island, the difficulty was finding the time and money to support such a program. The school day was only five minutes longer for Glastonbury elementary students, but their schedules didn’t include morning or afternoon recess.

BISD staff concerns included too many complexities in an already tight school schedule. The district found to make FLES work, it ultimately needed a longer school day, which would cost money.

The program hasn’t been adopted by BISD yet, though Goldsmith said it remains a value.

“We really do think it’s not a matter of if it will happen, it’s when,” she said. “I think it just needs to take off in the state of Washington. There are models of FLES in some schools, but no district has been able to figure out how to do this.”

MISD Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano recommended that the school board continue looking at the research and instructional models. He said in two years, there will be an opportunity to think differently about the structure of the school day.

“This is the right time,” Plano told the board. “I think we’re on the right path by talking about it here and beginning the study and being thoughtful about it.”

Also at the meeting, the superintendent shared a draft of values for the board to consider to determine new elementary boundaries with the introduction of the fourth elementary school. The values will be on the consent agenda for the board’s Sept. 25 meeting.

For more, go to www.mercerislandschools.org.