NCLR, THE NATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE, AND REP. SOLIS TO SPOTLIGHT THE BENEFITS OF DUAL-LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb 21, 2008

Contact:
Laura Anduze
Erica Beltran
(202) 785-1670

Washington, DC – – The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), and Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA) will hold a briefing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, February 26 to urge Congress to provide more support for dual-language programs. Despite the promising results of high-quality dual-language programs, they are increasingly unavailable to low-income students, including English language learners (ELLs) and children of African descent. Representative Solis will discuss the “Providing Resources to Improve Dual-Language Education (PRIDE) Act,” a bill she introduced last fall, and how it aligns with the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Dual-language programs have great potential to prepare students for the changing global job market and to eradicate the achievement gap between high- and low-income children. These programs successfully educate native English speakers and ELLs in the same classrooms by developing students’ linguistic and literacy abilities in two languages while at the same time promoting high levels of academic achievement and cognitive ability.