Curriculum Reform Review Philosophy / Term Paper

At which point, students who are enrolled in the program will begin to see improvements in their mental attitudes and achievement scores. (Lindhold, 2002)

However, there have been concerns that this program could often ignore Hispanic students who have trouble learning English. The reason why, is because a high percentage of Hispanic students have the highest dropout rates among all the different minorities. As a result, researchers found that Two Way Immersion programs help to improve the performance of Hispanic students who are English language learners. The reason why, is because these programs reach out to them from a cultural perspective and it has the students pledge, to remain in school. This is significant, because it helps to give these students direction and assistance. At which point, they will begin to perform better in school, changing their mental attitudes. (Lindhold, 2002)

The Strengths and Limitations of Two Way Immersion Programs

The Two Way Immersion program has a number of different strengths the most notable include: it can improve assimilation / cultural understanding, it encourages students to work together, it provides educators with flexibility, it helps to improve achievement scores / grade point averages and it increases the self-confidence of the individual. These different elements are important, because they allow educators to have a tool that they can use to address the various issues affecting their students. As the student body is increasingly becoming more diverse, reflecting shifts in the population. Over the course of time, this helps an educator to maintain the basic curriculum standards provided by the state.While at the same time, they can augment these standards by encompassing various elements of culture. At which point, the teaching style of the educator is more relaxed and entertaining. Once this takes place, it means that the overall amounts of learning comprehension will increase, as students find the material intellectually stimulating and fun. This will translate into a change of the student's mental attitude, leading to higher achievement scores and grade point averages.

However, it is important to be aware that this program can be used to address certain elements in an educational environment. Over the course of time, various administrators and bureaucrats could take the program and make standard for all schools. Once this occurs, it means that the government is taking a one size fits all approach to education (which could reduce the effectiveness of the Two Way Immersion program). As a result, it is imperative that this approach always continues to embrace the ideas of flexibility. Otherwise, it could mean that the Two Way Immersion program could be ineffective, because it became too successful. At which point, various regulations and restrictions will prevent the program from addressing the needs of a changing student body.

Bibliography

Two Way Immersion Education. (1998). Tools for Schools. Retrieved from:

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/ToolsforSchools/2way.html

Lindhold, K. (2002). The Impact of Two Way Immersion on Students Attitudes….....