In 1963, Coral Way Elementary set ground for the American bilingual school program, following the increase of new students from predominantly Spanish speaking immigrants from Cuba. Started as the first publicly funded school in the United States, Coral Way Elementary was recognized school of the Year in 2018 by the Spanish Consulate and became a model for over 2,000 bilingual programs nationwide.
Following Fidel Castro’s political takeover in Cuba in 1959, thousands of Cubans immigrants sought exile in the United States, and particularly Miami, Florida. This influx of demographics of predominantly Spanish speakers, including over 14,000 unaccompanied minors, joined the US between 1960 and 1962 as part of the Operation Peter Pan. While public resources were progressively allocated to public schools and communities impacted by the increasing number of Cuban refugees, 1962 marks the beginning of a new program specifically geared towards students. Dr. Pauline Martz, consultant for the Dade County Public Schools, crafted guidelines called Basic Program for Cuban Pupils and reached out to the department suggesting to submit a proposal to the Ford Foundation for financial assistance. The Foundation granted DCPS $278,000 to prepare reading and writing material for non-English speaking students and teachers of bilingual students, inspired by Charles Fries American English learning services. By doing so, DCPS has shaped the first bilingual school.
First Bilingual Academic Certification Program
In order to prepare and introduce the newly enrolled students, DCPS reached out to bilingual Cuban teachers and recruited them as assigned Aides. Lack of certification equivalence and license equivalent between the American and the Cuban education system soon prompted the Ford Foundation to fund the Cuban retraining program, through University of Miami, allowing Cuban teachers to obtain their Florida teaching license. From the first promotion, all 33 teachers enrolled in the program passed the first certification test.
In fall 1963, Coral Way Elementary pioneered its bilingual program with twelve teachers and three teacher aides. The program was divided equally among three grade levels (first, second, and third grade) with four groups in each grade. Within each grade, there were two groups of native Spanish speakers and two groups of native English speakers. Although the initial offering was small, the intention was to start a system that exposed students to bilingual education for the remainder of their elementary school experience. The program received mostly positive feedback, recognized for promoting cultural diversity exposure. Despites some pushbacks qualifying the program “Un-American” in these early days, Coral Way Elementary continued its effort to expand its bilingual curriculum from Kindergarten to 6th grade. Coral Way soon received praise from other academic professionals and was highly regarded by Puerto Rico, inspiring their new English as a Second Language Program.
Measuring Success: Validating the Bilingual Approach
Mabel Wilson Richardson, a Coral Way teacher pursuing her PhD at the University of Miami, conducted a groundbreaking study in 1968. Her research compared the academic achievement of students taught using both Spanish and English with those taught solely in English. The results were impactful:
- Both English and Spanish-speaking students progressed well in the regular curriculum.
- Both groups showed impressive gains in acquiring their second language.
- Spanish-speaking students maintained, and even strengthened, their native language skills.
Coral Way maintained its original program over the years, despite rapid demographics changes. In its early days, the program enrollment was equally spread between English and Spanish speaking students. But by 1968 Spanish speaking students dominated the program with 74% of enrollment. Nonetheless, Coral Way Elementary made its way to extend its bilingual curriculum to 2 additional grades, 7th and 8th grade, in 2004. One year later, Coral Way principal Dr. Pablo Ortiz was invited to the International Spanish Academics Seminar in Seville, Spain to give a lecture on how the pioneering program provided students with proficient skill sets in reading, writing and, speaking in both English and Spanish, strengthening the social fabrics between American students with various community backgrounds.
while Coral Way Elementary remains a model of bilingual recruitment, and staffing in education, other organizations turned over additional resources to test and trained bilingual individuals pursuing their education or career in a large variety of field. Take a look at our bilingual testing services and its benefits and how to implement it in your organization.