By Mark Otter

It’s official. We did the math, and third-graders enrolled in our Splash Language Immersion program passed their 2010-2011 End-of-Grade exams with flying colors. The numbers don’t lie:  Out of the 59 third-graders enrolled in Splash, 52 passed the reading exam and 57 passed in math.

The End-of-Grade examination results from Splash only confirm what we already believed – that the benefits of language immersion programs are immense.

I’m glad to see our students thriving in the Splash program. For students at such a young age to already be communicating with each other in another language can only help them down the line.

We began VIF’s Splash Language Immersion program five years ago with the mission of producing bi-cultural, bi-literate students. The program has since expanded to include 11 North Carolina elementary schools, with a choice between a full language immersion program and a two-way model in which instruction is split evenly between Spanish and English. Most class sizes average around 20 students.

We’re excited about how well students in language immersion programs have done. Let’s take a look at E.E. Miller Elementary School, one of our Splash partner schools. At E.E. Miller Elementary, 82.6 percent of Splash students passed their reading exams and 95 percent passed math, averaging a 33 percent higher pass rate than their peers. We also saw remarkable results at Hopewell Elementary School, where 89 percent of Splash students passed reading and 94 percent passed math.

Research has shown that students enrolled in language immersion programs do as well or better on standardized tests than their peers in traditional programs. In language immersion programs, students follow the traditional curriculum but are taught in Spanish rather than English, or a mixture of both. With Splash, students are taught by native Spanish speakers, ensuring that they receive the most authentic language education possible. Students in language immersion programs are shown to have increased cultural sensitivity, possess enhanced cognitive skills and are more prepared to participate in a global community.

Through Splash and other VIF programs, we hope to continue to work towards our vision of transforming lives through an international education.