Students who enrolled in Rock Hill Schools’ dual language immersion program in 2012 – the program’s first cohort – will enter high school in Fall 2021, and a recent 7-0 unanimous decision by the Board of Trustees defined future academic pathways for the students.
Since the inception of the program, DLI enrollment and interest to enter into this one-of-a-kind program have increased. Due to such growth and interest, the Kindergarten through 12th grade pathways needed to be fully established.
Based upon feedback from the high school choice advisory committee, as well as stakeholder input, the following are the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) pathways that will begin with the 2021-2022 school year:
DLI students may attend their home high school and travel to Rock Hill High School to participate in the Winthrop University dual credit coursework or remain with their cohort and attend Rock Hill High School full-time.
DLI students will have access to multiple pathways.
DLI students, no matter which high school they attend, will have access to district-sponsored travel abroad study programs.
DLI students, no matter which high school they attend, will have access to Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate coursework.
The decision to offer multiple high school pathways for DLI program is not only in the best interest of the students, but it is also the most economically feasible option for the school district.
In 2012, Rock Hill Schools embarked upon the dual language immersion (DLI) journey with its first cohort of Kindergarten students. In January 2019, Cherry Park Elementary School of Language Immersion opened its doors to all students who were a part of the dual language immersion program. The Cherry Park location brought together students from Ebinport Elementary, Richmond Drive Elementary, and Rosewood Elementary who were studying French or Spanish as part of the district’s dual language immersion program.
At Cherry Park Elementary, students spend half of their day immersed in either French or Spanish learning math, science and their target language literacy in either French or Spanish. For the other half of the day, the English partner teachers teach English, social studies and math reinforcement.
The first cohort of students entered the middle school program at Sullivan Middle School, which shares the same campus at Cherry Park Elementary, in August 2018. In the middle school program, students experience more in-depth target language courses geared to refine their language skills in three modes of communication: interpretive, interpersonal and presentational.
As with all other choice school programs in Rock Hill Schools, bus transportation to and from a student’s residence to Rock Hill High School, regardless of where the student resides in the school district, will be provided to all students in the DLI cohort throughout grades 9 – 12. Students choosing to remain at their home school zone may travel to Rock Hill High School for DLI dual credit courses; however, district transportation will not be provided during the school day from their home high school.
“Rock Hill Schools looks forward to implementing the high school pathways within the DLI program as well as continuing to expand upon the commitment to world language choice programming made by our students, parents, educators, and community,” said Superintendent Bill Cook. “This program provides a unique opportunity for students to graduate with a comprehensive understanding of multiple languages and be more competitive in the global workplace.”