Expanding World Language Programs Nearby Leaves Berkeley Heights’ Students Behind

An Educator in the Community Offers Insight into Our World Languages Program

At this moment, a seventh grade student taking World Language (Spanish, French, Italian) at Columbia Middle School (CMS) only receives half-year of instruction. Whereas for the remaining half of the school year, CMS students take another elective or in many cases, an unstructured study hall in a noisy cafeteria. . CMS Grade 7 students used to have a full year of World Language instruction until Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPS) made budget/staffing cuts to the World Language program approximately six to ten years ago – and has attempted to make cuts since (see attempted elimination of the BHPS French program circa April 2022, not offering French 3 class, eliminating Honors classes at CMS, combining a mega Italian 4 class with AP Italian at GLHS, loss of Berkeley Heights Huaxia Chinese School to New Providence).

Take a look at the neighboring New Providence School District. At their May 22nd, 2023 Board of Education meeting, their High School/Middle School Principal announced that seventh graders will have a full year of World Language (Spanish, French) beginning in the 2023-24 school year. This has caused New Providence Middle School to hire one additional full time Spanish teacher (above their previous staffing).

The difference between Berkeley Heights’ seventh grade World Language program and New Providence’s schedule prior to June 2023 is that in New Providence, seventh grade students received world language instruction for the entire school year, just every other day. Whereas, as a former BHPS educator notes, half the CMS students receive World Language for the first semester (September through January) and the other half of students would receive World Language for their second semester (February through June). This puts CMS students who take World Language Semester 1 at a significant disadvantage because they do not receive World Language instruction from the end of January of their seventh grade year until the first day of their eighth grade year. In other words, those Semester 1 students (one-half of the seventh grade class) currently go without World Language instruction the second half of their Grade 7 year at CMS. As for the non-World Language instructional minutes, at least the New Providence Grade 7 students who had World Language for a half-year had something academic every other day instead of the CMS study hall (New Providence Grade 7 students had an extra English Language Arts class the other day in addition to their regularly scheduled English class).

Additionally, High School World Language teachers prefer students to have two full years of world language entering high school, which Berkeley Heights currently lacks. While New Providence – and a number of other surrounding districts – offer two full years of World Language prior to high school entry, CMS students only have 1.5 years of World Language instruction going into Governor Livingston High School because students are only offered the a “semester class” (half-year) option in Grade 7 according to BHPS flowchart (still shows “Latin” which has not been offered in-person since the 2017-18 school year).

Good for New Providence School District and their World Language Department Head (a qualified individual with vast experiences in instructing World Language – what does BHPS have to offer from an administrative standpoint for World Language?) expanding the World Language option for New Providence Middle School students.

There will be a second article in the coming weeks looking into Berkeley Heights Public Schools’ lack of interest in adding a World Language program from the continent of Asia – such as Chinese – which most surrounding high schools carry.

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