Dive Brief:

• On Wednesday, New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced plans to expand or create 40 K-12 dual-language programs.
• The programs, which focus on teaching students to read, write, and speak in two languages, will be in place for the 2015-16 school year, reports The New York Times.
• While most of the programs will focus on Spanish, a selection of Japanese, Hebrew, Chinese, French, and Haitian-Creole will also be available, and only about half of the students enrolled will reportedly be native English speakers.

Dive Insight:

One outcome hoped for with this move: an influx of middle class students to some of the city's poorer schools. 

It's no secret that the U.S. is idealized by many as a "melting pot" culture due to the variety of immigrants who contributed to the nation's growth and continue to do so. By immersing students who may not already be English speakers in dual-language programming with an equal number of English speakers, both groups of students might gain proficiency in one another's languages even faster.

These programs have been growing in popularity around New York state as of late, and have additionally gained prominence in California.