Boerne ISD's Dual Language Program employs a Dual Language Immersion/Two-Way bi-literacy program model. The program's goal is to help students become bilingual and bi-literate in English and Spanish by integrating fairly equal numbers of native Spanish speaking children with native English speaking children for instruction.
Research shows Two-Way Dual Language to be the best bilingual program model for the long-term success of English Language Learners, a required service in Texas schools. It has the added benefit of being an enrichment program for the English-dominant students who participate.
In Boerne ISD, the Dual Language Program begins in Kindergarten and continues through fifth grade. Language learning is integrated with content instruction and academic subjects are taught in both Spanish and English according to a 90-10 instructional model. Kindergarten and first grade students spend 90% of the instructional day in Spanish. In each successive year, the amount of English is increased by 10% until fourth grade, when 50% of the instructional day is in Spanish and 50% is in English. This 50/50 balance of languages is maintained in fourth and fifth grades.
