Tucson Unified School District is committed to providing students with the opportunity to enroll in a positive and academically rigorous Two-Way Dual Language (TWDL) program designed to contribute significantly to academic achievement and provide learning experiences comparable to the district's Advanced Learning Experiences.
Tucson Unified School District recognizes the inherent linguistic and cultural diversity of its students. Within this context, dual language incorporates sound programmatic response to an equal educational opportunity.
Two-Way Dual language incorporates each student's linguistic and cultural attributes into a total learning experience producing individuals who will be full participants in our global society while continuing to preserve, manifest and enjoy their own cultural uniqueness.
Two-Way Dual Language (TWDL) program allows English learners to help native English speakers learn and acquire the curriculum through a second language, while native English speakers help English learners acquire the curriculum through English. As most teachers know, one of the best ways to learn is to teach, and both student groups receive accelerated instructional benefits from their other-language peers and from the teacher's use of collaborative learning strategies that capitalize on this effect. Also, learning together increases student interest in the school and curriculum topics, improving student motivation to learn and further amplifying and accelerating student progress (Calderón & Minaya-Rowe, 2003; Freeman, 1998; Lindholm-Leary, 2001; Thomas & Collier, 1997/1998, 1999).
"There is considerable research over the past 30 years demonstrating that TWDL programs are effective. Despite wide variations in communities, schools, and students forming the research base, results are quite consistent in showing that both native English-speaking and English Learner (EL) students who participate in TWDL programs achieve at levels that are at least comparable to, and often higher than, their peers enrolled in English-only instruction on standardized tests of achievement and language proficiency in English; but TWDL students have the additional benefit in that the students are also bilingual and biliterate, which their English-only instructed peers are typically not." (Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, 2016)
Governing Board Policy IHAA.