Coral Way Bilingual Elementary School in Miami is considered the nation's first Spanish-English dual-language immersion program. Its unique history is intricately linked with Cuba's revolutionary past, as the first children to enroll in the program had left the island following Fidel Castro's rise to power.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Coral Way (1963 - 1964 to 2013 - 2014), check out Richard Ruiz and Beth DeFarber's collection of interviews with teachers and students from the original class of 1963-1964. They have also compiled some interesting artifacts and photographs for this continuing project, which will grow over time. The collection includes: Primary source documents (26 items); an oral history collection (14 items); and photographs and memorobilia (104 items). The project is completely open access through the University of Arizona library website and can be accessed here. Worth checking out!

Like California, steam seems to be gathering for district flexibility in determining best approaches for educating English learning children across Massachusetts, a state that, through ballot initiative, adopted an English-only approach to educating English learners. This op-ed, published in the Boston Globe, is the most recent push by education, policy, and legal advocates in Massachusetts to move the state away from rigid English-only policies that have decimated bilingual programs statewide. The argument is not that bilingual education is better than monolingual education, but rather that it should not be ILLEGAL to teach children to read and write in a language other than English, and that districts should have a say in how they address the unique challenges and strengths that English learners bring to their schools.

The LATimes has been reporting recently on the efforts of state senator Ricardo Lara to introduce SB1174, a bill which would restore to districts in California the option to provide bilingual education programs to the students whom they serve. The effort is supported by the California Association of Bilingual Education and Californians together, which is "a coalition of parents, teachers, education advocates and civil rights groups". The issue is entering the public debate, as the LATimes continues its somewhat thin reporting on the issue. Similar efforts have flickered in Massachusetts, which shares a similar law to that of California, but nothing that rises to the level of reporting that the current California initiative is receiving. Maybe this will help  Massachusetts lawmakers muster greater political will to restore program flexibility on t