For the current academic year, 22 schools in 11 districts are participating in the Delaware World Language Immersion Program. Ten more schools will join the program during the coming school year, according to the state Department of Education.
Families interested in immersion programs should contact a school in their district or a nearby district. The 2017-18 school year application deadline for the state’s choice program, which enables children to attend schools outside their regular attendance zone, has already passed.
Also, school officials say that children should be enrolled in an immersion program during kindergarten or at the start of first grade. Unless they already have some fluency in the immersion language, children are not usually admitted beyond that point because it would be difficult for them to keep pace with students already in the program.
Here is a list of participating schools (with district in parentheses) and current grade levels in the program.
Chinese
McIlvaine Early Childhood Center (Caesar Rodney), K
Allen Frear Elementary (Caesar Rodney), 1-4
W.B. Simpson Elementary (Caesar Rodney), 1-4
John R. Downes Elementary (Christina), K-3
New Castle Elementary (Colonial), K-1
Spanish
Townsend Early Childhood Center (Appoquinimink), K
Silver Lake Elementary (Appoquinimink), 1
Townsend Elementary (Appoquinimink), 1
Claymont Elementary (Brandywine), K-1
McIlvaine Early Childhood Center (Caesar Rodney), K
W. Reily Brown Elementary (Caesar Rodney), 1-2
South Dover Elementary (Capital), K-3
Fairview Elementary (Capital), K
Kathleen Wilbur Elementary (Colonial), K-1
John M. Clayton Elementary (Indian River), K-4
East Millsboro Elementary (Indian River), K-3
Morris Early Childhood Center (Milford), K
William C. Lewis Elementary (Red Clay), K-5
Blades Elementary (Seaford), K-2
Central Elementary (Seaford), 3
Frederick Douglass Elementary (Seaford), 3
West Seaford Elementary (Seaford), K-2
Immersion programs will be introduced in kindergarten at eight schools at the start of the 2017-18 school year. The two schools in Milford will be receiving first-grade students who spent their kindergarten year in the immersion program at Morris Early Childhood Center.
Chinese
Spring Meadow Early Childhood Center (Appoquinimink)
Linden Hill Elementary (Red Clay)
Spanish
Lancashire Elementary (Brandywine)
Maple Lane Elementary (Brandywine)
H.O. Brittingham Elementary (Cape Henlopen)
Milton Elementary (Cape Henlopen)
Banneker Elementary (Milford)
Lulu M. Ross Elementary (Milford)
Anna P. Mote Elementary (Red Clay)
Marbrook Elementary (Red Clay)
In addition, Delaware has two charter schools – public schools not affiliated with traditional school districts – that offer immersion programs in Spanish.
Las Americas Aspira Academy, K-8
DE Map - Language Immersion Programs by Delaware Public Media on Scribd
