The Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE) Department collaborates and communicates with staff and families to provide equitable, consistent, and high-quality instruction and programming that empower culturally and linguistically diverse students to achieve academic excellence, become active members of our community, and thrive in a changing world.
Dual Language Education: This approach serves all children--both emerging bilingual students and native English speakers. All students learn all content areas together in both Spanish and English. The three pillars of dual language education are: bilingualism and biliteracy; grade-level academic achievement; and socio-cultural competence. Riverview School and Basalt Elementary provide Dual Language Programming. Basalt Middle School offers Dual Language classes.
Spanish Language Arts/Literacy (SLA): The Spanish Language Arts/Literacy (SLA) Team focuses on high-quality SLA programming and instruction. The program is driven by Spanish Language Arts Standards. Instruction; and addresses oracy, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, decoding, and comprehension. Teachers explicitly link similarities to English and target the unique characteristics of Spanish. Spanish is taught using authentic and educationally sound methods designed for native Spanish speakers. The SLA program is part of Dual Language programming and CLDE programming in general. Roaring Fork High School, Glenwood Springs High School, and Basalt High School offer SLA courses for emerging bilingual students. Glenwood Springs Elementary School offers Spanish Literacy and English Literacy to students in a biliteracy approach.
World Languages: The Roaring Fork Schools' World Language Team incorporates World Language Standards: Communication, Culture/Intercultural Communication, Connections, and Comparisons. All of Roaring Fork Schools offer Spanish as a World Language K-12. French is also offered at Roaring Fork High School and Glenwood Springs High School.
The Roaring For Schools' approach to teaching English to emerging bilingual students includes four main elements: oracy, metalanguage, reading, and writing. Oracy and metalanguage are skills that students need in order to think, talk, and write about languages and complex topics. Literacy-Based ELD is offered in all Roaring Fork Schools.