This presentation describes the Coral Way Bilingual Program, the first publicly funded dual language (Spanish/English) bilingual education program that opened in the US in 1963. Archival data and oral histories are presented to demonstrate the long term outcomes from the program on students’ language and social learning.
Few studies have examined the long term impact of bilingual education programs on students' second language development and social outcomes. This presentation describes the Coral Way Bilingual Program, the first publicly funded dual language bilingual education program that opened to 350 students (Spanish and English speakers) in 1963. Data consist of interviews and oral histories from teachers, bilingual paraprofessionals, and students who attended the school between 1963 and 1968, the first five years of the program as an experiment in bilingual education in the US state of Florida. Audiorecorded oral histories were collected over two periods: 2007-08 and 2018-19. Additional data derive from more than 200 pages of archives from the Ford Foundation, approximately 100 images, newspaper articles, and reports, including one dissertation from 1968 with stuent achievement data. Data for this project were analyzed using historical research methods following external and internal analytic techniques (Berg, 2001). Findings include the initial seven goals of Coral Way and the way that educational leaders and teachers viewed second langauge and literacy development as outcomes. Findings also include stories from participants who report the long term impact and effects of the Coral Way Bilingual Program on their learning, vocation, and social and cultural integration. Attendees will gain insight in to the historical, sociocultural context of early dual language bilingual education in the US and its impact on the lives of participants.
