The Schaumburg Community Consolidated School District 54 Board of Education on Thursday approved an all-day dual language–Spanish and English–class at Enders-Salk Elementary School.

The Schaumburg school was selected as a second district site because of the high number of Spanish-speaking children who attend school there. More than one-third of the 531 pupils at Enders-Salk come from Spanish-speaking homes.

The Enders-Salk program, which will be funded through grants, will begin in the fall. District 54 also has a successful dual-language program at MacArthur Elementary School in Hoffman Estates.

Dual language is taught in a self-contained class. From kindergarten through 2nd grade, children are taught basic subject matters about 80 percent of the time in Spanish and 20 percent of the time in English. As they move into upper grades, the percentage balances out to half in each language.

Test scores from the MacArthur dual-language participants show that pupils in the program do as well or better than their peers, district officials said.

“This is a wonderful extension of a very successful program that we already have in place, and I heartily endorse it,” said board member Carl Cox.

A digest of late news reports, compiled by Brad Webber.



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