Council Member Mark Levine lauds expansion of bilingual education in NYC schools

New York. – The following statement can be attributed toNew York City Council Member Mark Levine:

“As the world becomes more connected, dual languageeducation programs can powerfully change a young person’s life. Today, New YorkCity is taking another major step toward providing the benefits of theseprograms to more of our young students.

I’m thrilled that hundreds of city students will beeligible to enroll in bilingual programs in the fall, and I commend ChancellorFariña for her commitment to foreign language education. Now, we must continueto build the infrastructure for every child to receive foreign languageinstruction.

Today, only 3 percent of elementary students are enrolled in dual languageprograms that offer the kind of early immersion important to achieving nativespeaker fluency. As I have long advocated, only a robust expansion of theselanguage programs will give all young people the chance to attain the languageskills critical for success in the 21st century.

I look forward to continuing to partner with theChancellor, so every New York City student has the opportunity at a bilingualeducation.”

In the fall of 2015, Council Member Levine released a whitepaper on the state of foreign language education in New York City. You can findthe white paper.