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Spanish immersion students perform well on the California STAR Test

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2011 18:38 PM



Based on the results of the 2010-2011 California STAR Testing Program, native English-speaking students who took part in a Cabrillo Unified School District's Spanish immersion track performed better on the assessment than those who were in programs that did not teach Spanish, the Half Moon Bay Review reported.

The District introduced the immersion program in the late 1990s and today, 12 classes are comprised of both native English and Spanish speakers, the news source stated. Based on the results of the California STAR Test, native speakers in the Hatch Elementary School immersion track received an average score of 407, which was higher than the 373 points that students in the institution's English-only class received.

According to Elizabeth Schuck, the District's assistant superintendent, there are two possible explanations for the native speakers' high scores, the news outlet reported. First, most of these students' parents had earned either college or graduate degrees. Second, she said that the connection that is formed in the brain when youths learn a language helps them excel academically.

In addition to English-language arts, the California Standards Tests measures students' abilities in mathematics, science and history-social science, according to the California Department of Education.


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