Dual Language Catholic Schools: Innovation and Equity-- Dual Language Catholic Schools: Innovation and Equity--Considerations for Making the Transition to Dual Language Considerations for Making the Transition to Dual Language

: The mul ti ple aca demic and social advan tages of a dual lan guage edu ca tion are well known; yet there is lit tle prac ti cal guid ance for Cath o lic school lead ers who are tak ing on this whole school change. This paper explores the nec es sary steps for Cath o lic school lead ers to develop equi ta ble dual lan guage schools. Guided by the Gospel prin ci ples of love and jus tice and using the Community of Practice the o ret i cal frame work, the authors argue that tak ing thought ful risks in transforming one’s school can lead to mean ing ful learn ing in ser vice to cul tur ally and lin guis ti cally diverse stu dents. Seven main implementation areas for devel op ing a dual lan guage Cath o lic school are con sid ered: Clear goals, vision, and mis sion; lead er ship and sup port; pro duc tive part ner ships; qual ity per son nel; knowl edge of stu dents and high expec ta tions; recruiting, retaining and reassuring stu dents and fam­ i lies; and cross­cul tural cur ric u lum and instruc tion. Practical insights, time lines for fea si bil ity and implementation, as well as exam ples for school lead ers are pro vided.

"I n order to main tain the vital ity of urban Cath o lic schools, the quest for a strong Cath o lic iden tity, evi dence of high aca demic qual ity, and inno va tive approaches to pro gram ming and financ ing have become urgent" (Fuller, 2018, p. 3). If you are a leader in a Cath o lic school, you prob a bly have asked your self: What else can I do to revi tal ize my school? And, while all schools are as unique as the cul tures and peo ple that form them, there is a com mon approach that has inno va tively and suc cess fully turned schools into vital ized sources of aca demic achieve ment and rel e vant ped a gogy. This com mon approach is dual lan guagea term that implies an assetbased approach to bilin gual edu ca tion, one in which grade level sub jects are stra te gi cally taught through out pri mary and/or sec ond ary school ing in two lan guages (Freeman et al., 2018). The three goals of dual lan guage edu ca tion include high aca demic achieve ment, bilin gual ism/biliteracy, and socio cul tural com pe tence (Howard et al., 2018;LindholmLeary, 2001LindholmLeary, , 2005. There are a vari ety of dual lan guage pro gram mod els. Two com mon ones are referred to as the 50/50 or 90/10 mod els. A 50/50 pro gram strives for biliteracy from the start and equal parts of the day/week are taught in both pro gram lan guages. In a 90/10 model, the pro gram starts with a heavier empha sis on the part ner lan guage. As a stu dent progresses through the grades, they spend more of their time in English (i.e., Kindergartners learn in Span ish for 90% of the day and 10% of the day is spent in English, first grad ers learn in Span ish for 80% of the day and 20% in English, and so on) until they reach 50/50, usu ally by fourth or fifth grade. Further, pro grams can be known as oneway or twoway lan guage immer sion depending on the stu dent pop u la tion served. Oneway immer sion refers to a pro gram that serves a major ity of stu dents who are dom i nant in the part ner lan guage, or con versely, English dom i nant and learn ing the part ner lan guage. Twoway immer sion pro grams seek to serve a diverse lan guage pop u la tion, where equal amounts of stu dents may be dom i nant in the part ner lan guage and English, and thus can serve as lan guage mod els to each other. Whatever the dis tri bu tion of time in both lan guages and the lan guage back ground of the stu dents, suc cess ful dual lan guage pro grams don't approach the lan guage strands in iso la tion, as two mono lin gual pro grams. Rather, dual lan guage pro grams pro mote meta lin guis tic aware ness. Indeed, class room ped a gogy includes mak ing crosslin guis tic con nec tions between the lan guages, such as through the high light ing of cog na tes, as well as rec og niz ing what is nontrans fer ra ble and unique to each lan guage (Escamilla, 2014).
Studies have shown that lan guage is more than a set of lin guis tic struc tures and terms. Lan guage is an inte gral part of the child's iden tity, and iden tity affir ma tion is con du cive to aca demic suc cess (de Jong, 2011). Latinx teach ers and chil dren have expressed a greater sense of belong ing and com mit ment when their school sees their home lan guage as an asset and invests in affirming all lin guis tic, cul tural, and per sonal iden ti ties (Flores et al., 2018;Palmer, 2018). Research has also dem on strated addi tional ben e fits that come with becom ing bilin gual and biliterate -the abil ity to speak, read and write in two lan guages: brain plas tic ity and open ness to diverse per spec tives, inter gen er a tional com mu ni ca tion, and the pos si bil ity to apply for schol ar ships or bet ter paid jobs (Office of English Language Acquisition, USDE). It has also been established that dual lan guage edu ca tion is the most effec tive instruc tional model in terms of bridg ing the English lit er acy gap between English learn ers and the main stream stu dent pop u la tion (Butvilofsky et al., 2016). When we imag ine schools plac ing teach ers and stu dents at the cen ter and con sid er ing their lin guis tic and cul tural back ground as assets, we also imag ine teach ers and stu dents grow ing strong with a sense of belong ing (Cobb & Krownapple, 2019), and the affir ma tion needed to con tinue this pat tern of care and appre ci a tion for oth ers' cul tures, per spec tives and iden ti ties.
As Cath o lic school lead ers, we spent much of our ini tial careeryears imag in ing and seek ing inspi ra tion, and soon real ized that our vision included dual lan guage and pluricultural schools, where diff er ences were gen u inely seen as assets. We quickly learned that this vision demanded a plan of action imbued with a set of val ues and under stand ings. We have ded i cated most of our pro fes sional life to devel op ing dual lan guage schools that can be tested, improved, and reproduced. We now offer steps and ideas that can inspire and guide a leader who is con sid er ing transforming a Cath o lic school into a dual lan guage school.
We con sider this paper sig nifi cant because while many under stand the advan tages of dual lan guage Cath o lic edu ca tion, few Cath o lic school and dioc e san lead ers have been trained on dual lan guage edu ca tion, and thus, might not feel pre pared to start a pro gram. However, that should not deter a vision ary. With prep a ra tion and guid ance, Cath o lic lead ers can suc cess fully estab lish inno va tive and equi ta ble dual lan guage schools as effec tive edu ca tional mod els for all , while simul ta neously increas ing enroll ment and ensur ing oper a tional vital ity (Fuller, 2018;Fraga, 2016;Ospino & WeitzelO'Neill, 2016).

Inspiration and Theoretical Foundation
When I hear other prin ci pals talk about transforming their schools, they often ask: "Do I have it in me to delve into a whole school change? Is my school com mu nity ready?" As a dual lan guage leader, it was help ful for me to think about my why, par tic u larly my jour ney of work ing in mul ti lin gual com mu ni ties in the United States, Uganda and Bolivia, as well as my fam ily's immi gra tion story. I found inspi ra tion in my own his tory (Fuller, 2022, field notes).
Leaders need to seek their own inspi ra tion -a vision that some how has been part of who they are all along, but has yet to be acknowl edged and explored. Additionally, lead ers seek ing answers to the ques tion: "What else can I do to revi tal ize my school?" can find inspi ra tion in their school's his tory, its tra jec tory, and in its peo ple. The beauty of Cath o lic schools lies in each school's his tor i cal con nec tion to its com mu nity, and the appre ci a tion and care for the com mu nity as it evolves. Identities are social and rela tional because they are molded by social and rela tional inter ac tions; schools are no excep tion (Sada, 2020). The iden tity of a school has evolved with time -the past, pres ent and imag ined future, con sti tute its iden tity.
A sec ond source of inspi ra tion can be the Cath o lic edu ca tion prin ci ples of sub sid i ar ity and synodality (Gravissimum educationis, Decree on Chris tian Education). This per spec tive gives us the abil ity to inno vate and trans form more nim bly than pub lic school coun ter parts. While we lead according to a set of val ues, under stand ings, and reg u la tions, we have the auton omy to deter mine the instruc tional model and, at times, the cur ric u lum that will best serve our school pop u la tion, matching -accord ingly -our teach ers' strengths.

Community of Practice
In addi tion to adopting a vision, school trans for ma tion demands a the o ret i cal foun da tion.
Organizations ben e fit from using a frame work that can serve as ref er ence in the trans for ma tion pro cess. While there are many, one we have used is com mu nity of prac tice, or CoP (Farsworth et al., 2016). This frame pro poses that the school is a com mu nity where peo ple share a goal; and that as they inter act daily, they advance toward the goal, learn ing and strat e giz ing together. The CoP's com po nents are three: 1) shared iden tity and col lec tive set of skills; 2) col lab o ra tion or shared time in which mem bers can voice new under stand ings and remaining ques tions; and, 3) action -all CoP mem bers carry on their indi vid ual tasks that, together, con trib ute to the com mu nity's goal.
To take effect, the three CoP com po nents need to be under stood in depth. For exam ple, early in our school trans for ma tion pro cess we encoun tered the fol low ing iden tity related chal lenge: How can school stake hold ers gen u inely share an iden tity, while their indi vid ual iden ti ties are so diverse? This was resolved by col lab o ra tively reflecting and under stand ing the mul ti fac eted and inter sec tional nature of iden tity. "We are like all oth ers, we are like some oth ers, we are like no other;" (Lartey, 2013). The Ghanese theo lo gian Emmanuel Y. A. Lartey, speaks of the har mo ni ous pon der ing of what is uni ver sal in us (our dig nity in God's image and all human attri butes), what is com mon to some of us (lan guage, eth nic ity/race, and cul ture), and what is abso lutely unique to each (the mul ti ple aspects of our inter sec tional spe cific iden tity). These three iden tity dimen sions of each indi vid ual in a school com mu nity are equally impor tant, and are not exclu sive of each other; while, at times, empha siz ing one, the other two remain pri mor dial, and as a set, they all con sti tute the school's iden tity. Similarly, the school com mu nity's goals as a whole, and the goals of each stake holder, are equally impor tant and are not mutu ally exclu sive. This har mony between the sys tem's goal and the goal of each of its mem bers, is the first sign of a healthy sys tem (Meadows, 2008). As CoP lead ers, we take the time to learn about our teach ers, fam i lies and stu dents' iden ti ties and indi vid ual goals. Consequently, as under stand ing and appre ci a tion for group and indi vid ual iden ti ties and goals grow, the com mu nity's col lab o ra tion devel ops, and actions bet ter reflect grow ing care and equity, leav ing behind heg e monic per spec tives that con sider some voices, lan guages and cul tures as supe rior.

Chris tian Love and Justice
"We seek to cre ate lov ing com mu ni ties of kin ship pre cisely to coun ter act mount ing love less ness, rac ism, and the cul tural dis par age ment that keeps us apart" (Father Greg Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart, p. 139). As Cath o lic school lead ers and believ ers in dual lan guage edu ca tion, we are also guided by the Gospel prin ci ples of love and jus tice. "As Fraga (2016) notes and (our) expe ri ence has ver i fied, (we) see the poten tial of twoway lan guage immer sion schools to 'lever age the com mon bond of com mit ment to the prac tice of the Cath o lic faith as a way of over com ing the social, eco nomic, lin guis tic, and cul tural divi sions that remain bar ri ers to the achieve ment of social jus tice for many seg ments of Cath o lics in the U.S.' (p. 157)" (Fuller, 2018, p. 17).
We fol low the exam ple of Jesus who gath ered a plu ral is tic com mu nity of men and women who spoke Ara maic, Greek, and Hebrew. And we rec og nize the com plex and some times prob lem atic past of Cath o lic edu ca tion-from Span ish mis sion schools (StevensArroyo & Pantoja, 2003) to Native Amer i can boarding schools (Adams, 1995) -for cul tur ally and lin guis ti cally diverse pop u la tions. We also are reminded that as early as the 18th Century reli gious orders included Black women, and they wel comed a diverse group of stu dents into their class rooms, includ ing enslaved chil dren and chil dren of immi grants of all races and lin guis tic back grounds. Further, between the 1830s and 1930s, "the eth nic par ish school was an impor tant and pop u lar model" (Walch, 2003, p. 76). Cath o lic school teach ers taught in the lan guage of the immi grant pop u la tions they served, while includ ing the instruc tion of other lan guages in the com mu nity, includ ing English (Clark, 1992;O'Keefe & Scheopner, 2009).
As Chris tians, called to a uni ver sal love that stretches to repair and res ti tute for inequities made evi dent through out his tory and, recently, through the pan demic that once again exposed abuses against minoritized pop u la tions in our soci ety, we invest our resources in edu ca tional mod els that will effec tively dis solve lan guage and cul tural bar ri ers. We can build our schools as we want the Church to be -young, vibrant, dynamic, hopefilled, com pas sion ate, and inclu sive.

Planning the Transformation
Taking on a whole school change is not about con ve nience or find ing a sil ver bul let to a great enroll ment or finan cial chal lenge. It's about pur su ing excel lence and tak ing thought ful risks in order to serve stu dents bet ter. Instead of pro pos ing that every one trans form their school into a dual lan guage Cath o lic school with out the req ui site steps to mea sure and pre pare for pos si ble chal lenges, we are suggesting that schools con duct a fea si bil ity study to take the nec es sary thought ful risks to improve their school.
Given the lean eco nomic real ity of many Cath o lic ele men tary schools today, often starting a dual lan guage pro gram mim ics the entre pre neur ial spirit of a startup. Ries (2011) describes a startup as "a human insti tu tion designed to cre ate new prod ucts and ser vices under con di tions of extreme uncer tainty" (p. 8). While uncer tainty in edu ca tional change can be par a lyz ing, we instead encour age you to default to "yes, we can do it" when con sid er ing transforming your school into a dual lan guage school. Converting to a new school model will always imply a risk; how ever, the risk can be informed, thought ful, and -what ever the out come -it always has a con tin uum. If you try and suc ceed, you have established a new mul ti lin gual and mul ti cul tural tra jec tory for your stu dents. If you failor obtain diverse results than expected, "Put fail ure to work towards val ued goals" (Bryk, Gomez, Grunow & LeMahieu, 2015, p. 179). It will not be a fail ure if you use the infor ma tion to learn and improve the school model, and its respon sive ness to the most vul ner a ble stu dents. Besides, the dual lan guage trans for ma tion is typ i cally done one grade at a time, starting with PreK or Kindergarten, so even when the learn ing curve is steep, the pro gres sion is slow, allowing for learn ing and growth over time.
A healthy CoP devel ops a com mon iden tity which has been shaped by a com mon goal and mul ti ple col lab o ra tive inter ac tions. The school's iden tity, hence, will include an iden tity of trans for ma tion which will nec es sar ily imply risk tak ing. When we embrace new oppor tu ni ties as we trans form schools into dual lan guage schools, we must be supported by a com mu nity that can tol er ate risk thanks to the strength of our com mon val ues and vision. The risk, how ever, is informed and thought ful. Through col lab o ra tion we plan the nec es sary shared and indi vid ual actions to gather data and infor ma tion in order to assess the read i ness of our schools in terms of dual lan guage trans for ma tion. The tim ing is cru cial. Concretely, these actions are listed below.
• Create a task force or team of diverse stake hold ers to gather the essen tial data and infor ma tion (i.e.: teach ers' lan guage(s), par ish pop u la tion, fac ulty and fam i lies' inter est, finan cial pro jec tions, etc.). This team could later serve as part of the implementation and pro gram review pro cesses. Core ques tions to gar ner essen tial data might include: ○ What have been the enroll ment trends at your school over the past five years? ○ What is the num ber of parish ion ers and com mu nity mem bers with pre schoolaged chil dren and youn ger? How many chil dren cur rently par tic i pate in the par ish reli gious edu ca tion pro gram? ○ What is the home lan guage of the fam i lies in your com mu nity? How many would be inter ested in a dual lan guage pro gram? ○ How do you plan to bud get and pay for new cur ric u lum and library mate ri als in the tar get lan guage, as well as pro fes sional devel op ment for the teach ers? ○ What is the nearest pub lic or char ter dual lan guage pro gram in your area? Do they have a waitlist? • Look beyond your com mu nity to pub lic, char ter, inde pen dent and Cath o lic schools. Who is doing dual lan guage well in your com mu nity? Visit them, go on tours, and review their websites.

Implementation Considerations
The fea si bil ity pro cess should build momen tum and ignite pas sion for this new pro ject. Remem ber that peo ple want to be a part of some thing unique, excit ing, and spe cial. As you are conducting the fea si bil ity and begin ning the implementation stage, have con fi dence in the research pro cess and don't lose sight of the vision. Once you have decided to go dual lan guage in the fall, there are seven main implementation areas to con sider.

Clear Goals, Vision, and Mission
After reflecting upon your own lin guis tic, eth nic, and cul tural his tory, con sider the unique Cath o lic iden tity or char ism of your school. Seek out his tor i cal doc u ments to find out: Which • Experts are needed: Unless the dio cese is equipped, schools and dis tricts typ i cally hire a con sul tant or part ner with a uni ver sity to lead the fea si bil ity pro cess. While the data col lec tion can be done by school per son nel, some one with dual lan guage expe ri ence needs to ana lyze the data as it relates to dual lan guage goals, prin ci ples, and cases (in Cath o lic school set tings) across the coun try. Experts will offer indi ca tors for read i ness and can sug gest the steps nec es sary to open a dual lan guage pro gram.
The fea si bil ity pro cess should begin at least one school year in advance of the desired pro gram launch. Figure 1 indi cates a pos si ble time line to fol low. While stake hold ers want to cap i tal ize on the energy and enthu si asm for a new pro gram, allowing enough time to com plete all the steps is vital to suc cess. Sometimes, even more time is nec es sary.

Figure 1
Possible Timeline Order of Religious Sisters started your school? What coun try did they come from and what lan guages did they speak? What pop u la tions have your school and par ish his tor i cally served? Understanding the com mu nity demo graph ics and what the par ish and school have val ued over time will engen der a more authen tic evolv ing iden tity and trans for ma tion.
Another task to con sider is bring ing stake hold ers together to cut apart drafts of the school's mis sion and vision state ments so that phrases and words can be added or deleted. After all , these state ments must guide the school and com mu nity trans for ma tion. At the TwoWay Immersion Network (TWINCS) Summer Academy, com plet ing this exer cise with dual lan guage implementation teams yielded revised mis sion state ments with, "much more explicit lan guage ref er enc ing a com mit ment to lin guis ti cally minoritized stu dents, par tic u larly by addressing cul tural and lin guis tic diver sity and social jus tice/global cit i zen ship" (Scanlan et al., 2019, p. 167).
Finally, call on the school com mu nity to move for ward in a renewed, more inclu sive, equi ta ble, and lov ing way. Review these new mis sion and vision state ments with staff and have them develop visual rep re sen ta tions and trans la tions of the words into the lan guage/s of instruc tion for use with stu dents. This last step is imper a tive for build ing buyin and cre at ing a liv ing mis sion.

Leadership and Support
Communities of prac tice require lead ers that con nect to thought ful risk (such as in the lean startup model), and develop com mu nity buy in. Most impor tantly, starting a dual lan guage pro gram requires the prin ci pal to be the lead learner (Fullan, 2014) and thus, start by get ting out to see suc cess ful dual lan guage pro grams in action before starting your own pro gram (Fuller, 2018). Knowing the mod els and offer ings of pri vate and pub lic dual lan guage schools in your com mu nity is vital to speak ing to the sim i lar i ties and unique ness of your school's pro gram.
New dual lan guage prin ci pals will not have all the answers but mod el ing humil ity and a will ing ness to learn will go far with devel op ing trust from stake hold ers. Saying, "I don't know but I'm going to find out and we can learn together" pro motes trans par ency and com mu nity sup port. While many pub lic schools have a dual lan guage coor di na tor posi tion, due to the small size and bud get ary restric tions at most Cath o lic schools, you might instead des ig nate a lead dual lan guage teacher or vice prin ci pal who can help coor di nate the devel op ment of the pro gram and serve as a stra te gic thought part ner. As a leader, you can model the nec es sary learn ing and com mit ments by attend ing key con fer ences along side your teach ers and admin team. Sharing your new learn ings with the stu dents and par ents allows them to see that learn ing is a jour ney that is ongo ing, and that you are seri ous about keep ing abreast of the lat est dual lan guage trends. Certainly, starting a dual lan guage pro gram will neces si tate the prin ci pal becom ing a lit er acy expert to the extent pos si ble. Further, lead ers must become com fort able talking about key dual lan guage resources, such as the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education, the Common Core en Espa ñol, and the "CanDo Statements" pro duced by the National Council of State Supervisors for Language (NCSSFL) and ACTFL col lab o ra tion. For links to these resources, see Appendix.
Transforming a school is not only a tech ni cal and adap tive change (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002) but an emo tional one (Hargreaves, 2008) as any sin cere learn ing comes with set backs and chal lenges. Therefore, learn to say, "I'm sorry. How can we serve you bet ter?" Listening to the answers of fac ulty and staff, as well as par ents, par ish, and com mu nity mem bers, and com ing up with solu tions together regard ing cur ric u lum and instruc tion, extra cur ric u lars, and mul ti cul tural school events will make for a more pro found school trans for ma tion.

Productive Partnerships
Starting a suc cess ful dual lan guage pro gram means establishing pro duc tive and mean ing ful part ner ships with par ents, the par ish as well as the surrounding com mu nity. Always choose build ing com mu nity over any con cept. Listening care fully and com pas sion ately to stake hold ers' con cerns and excite ment is key. When par ents or stake hold ers ask about "your vision" for the school, always think along the lines of "our vision". Indeed, strike "my school, my stu dents, my staff " from your rep er toire, and embrace "our".
Consider lead ing or hir ing some one to lead a dual lan guage vision ing retreat with school par ents, teach ers, parish ion ers, com mu nity mem bers and staff. Dedicate a morn ing to answer ing the ques tion, "What's our dream for our dual lan guage school?" in a con crete and detailed way. By lay ing out all the pos si bil i ties, dream ing big, and engag ing in this prayer ful, imag i na tive pro cess, you can pro vide a space for grat i tude, pos i tive and hopefilled emo tions, as well as build cour age for what's to come.

Quality Personnel
Finding qual ity dual lan guage per son nel at a Cath o lic school sal ary requires hir ing eager learn ers who want to help develop the pro gram, who are ani mated (rather than overwhelmed) by new ini tia tives, and impor tantly, pas sion ate about lan guage learn ing. While one may not be able to attract teach ers with high salaries, one can inspire teach ers with an inclu sive and invig o rat ing vision of a dual lan guage Cath o lic School.
Leaders can ensure teach ers have access to the best pro fes sional devel op ment and unique expe ri ences such as attend ing the TWINCS Summer Academy and bilin gual con fer ences like La Cosecha Dual Language Conference, or those spon sored by the National Association of Bilingual Education (NABE), the California Association of Bilingual Education (CABE) or the Association of TwoWay and Bilingual Education (ATDLE). Leaders can access Title II funding in order to allow teach ers to attend excit ing and rel e vant work shops, as well as to pay for their Masters or cre den tial clas ses at local uni ver si ties (California Department of Education, 2022).
Finally, hon or ing teach ers as cocre a tors of your dual lan guage pro gram is par a mount. These founding teach ers and staff mem bers must con tin u ally be rec og nized and thanked for their pioneering spirit. Schools can work with par ents to form fac ulty/staff appre ci a tion com mit tees to raise money in order to offer small mon e tary bonuses and gifts to acknowl edge teach ers' hard work through out the year.

Knowledge of Students and High Expectations
As you look to trans form your school, you have to look at who you cur rently serve. Sending out a home lan guage sur vey is a must. Through this instru ment, you can learn what lan guage/s your stu dents were intro duced to as babies, what lan guage/s were used by par ents to read and sing to them before enter ing school, and what lan guage your stu dents pre fer now. It's impor tant to also ask about the spe cial learn ing needs of your stu dents.
Researchers have found that while learn ing disabilities are often diffi cult to detect in bilin gual learn ers, with appro pri ate prog ress mon i tor ing and sup port, these stu dents can and should be included in dual lan guage pro grams (Fortune & Menke, 2010). Disaggregate your cur rent aca demic data. As a leader, inquire into who has tra di tion ally strug gled at your school, and then develop a plan for how to bet ter serve these stu dents through the dual lan guage model.
Most impor tantly, hold stu dents to gradelevel stan dards, even if they need lots of scaff old ing and sup port. Believing stu dents can mas ter two or more lan guages and ensur ing fidelity to the dual lan guage model will pave the way for stu dent suc cess. That said, learn ing in two lan guages can also cause dis com fort and frus tra tion for stu dents. Increase stu dents' sense of belong ing and lan guage learn ing by low er ing the affec tive fil ter -the emo tional bar rier that comes from ner vous ness or fear in the learn ing pro cess (Krashen, 1987). This can be done by being aware of stu dents' social emo tional needs and hav ing a plan for sup port via com mon class room rou tines, bilin gual prayer ser vices, morn ing meet ings and assem blies, as well as pro vid ing access to coun sel ing ser vices.

Recruiting, Retaining, and Reassuring Students and Families
When recruiting new stu dents to the dual lan guage pro gram, you must not over prom ise. Dual lan guage is not the easy answer for a fledg ling school pro gram, and stu dents are not sponges; they don't learn a lan guage over night. Language learn ing takes grit and fos ter ing per se ver ance and patience in stu dents and fac ulty mem bers is cen tral. Families must know they are com mit ting to some thing for the long haul (i.e., four to nine years to reach grade level pro fi ciency [Collier & Thomas, 2004]) and that stu dents will gain pro fi ciency at vary ing rates. Being hon est with fam i lies from the out set and tem per ing expec ta tions is imper a tive. Furthermore, help ing fam i lies under stand that build ing socio cul tural com pe tency is equal to the goals of aca demic excel lence and biliteracy sets the foun da tion for embrac ing a holis tic view of prog ress in a dual lan guage pro gram.
Since most Cath o lic dual lan guage schools are being transformed one grade level at a time starting in the pri mary grades, schools must actively work to retain the stu dents that are in the upper grades that have not yet converted to dual lan guage. These stu dents and fam i lies might be won der ing, what's in this trans for ma tion for them? Or more neg a tively, the Englishonly pro gram fam i lies may have feel ings of resent ment and exclu sion since much excite ment might sur round the new dual lan guage pro gram. A focus on inte grat ing the two pro grams to ensure one school com mu nity could be done via school assem blies, masses, and cocur ric u lars. Offering a Span ish for eign lan guage class for the nondual lan guage grades and other oppor tu ni ties for cul tural con nec tions across the school will allow all to feel val ued. Another pos si bil ity is to build an excit ing addi tional pro gram from the top down. For exam ple, one school in Los Angeles is build ing out a STEM pro gram, includ ing robot ics and a part ner ship with a local uni ver sity around envi ron men tal jus tice, starting in 8th grade while simul ta neously starting their dual lan guage pro gram in Kindergarten and first grade.
Don't for get to reas sure dual lan guage stu dents and par ents of the incred i ble gift that is a dual lan guage edu ca tion. Make sure to have early wins when kicking off the pro gram by teach ing all stu dents a schoolwide chant, key pray ers such as the Our Father and Hail Mary, and the birth day song in the lan guage of instruc tion. Remind par ents via news let ters about the research that sup ports dual lan guage learn ing and invite a dual lan guage expert to pro vide a ques tion and answer ses sion to par ents in the fall of their first year to address any anx i eties or con cerns.

Cross-Cultural Curriculum and Instruction
What you invest in shows what you are seri ous about. Choosing highqual ity bilin gual, cross cul tural, and com pre hen sive cur ric u lum resources (includ ing assess ments) is key to suc cess. Teach ers can not and should not be asked to develop cur ric u lum from scratch. Developing a new pro gram is com plex and hav ing core cur ric u lar resources in the tar get lan guage from the start will ensure a basis for qual ity instruc tion. Teachers can begin by cre at ing pac ing guides, and then, over time, slowly move to cre ate more robust inter dis ci plin ary cur ric u lum units and maps.
It is impor tant that teach ers receive sup port in lan guage acqui si tion meth od ol o gies such as Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD), or the Sheltered Instruction Observation Proto col (SIOP)/TwoWay Instruction Observation Protocol (TWIOP), and focus par tic u larly, in the teach ing of lan guage and con tent stan dards. Further, dual lan guage fac ulty agree ment on key instruc tional strat e gies, com mon graphic orga niz ers, and a list of must haves for class room orga ni za tion, per mits stu dents to see con gru ence in the dual lan guage pro gram from the start.

Test and Refine the Program
Once the dual lan guage pro gram is established, fac ulty and staff must plan for reg u lar data checkins and for a more com pre hen sive yearly pro gram review. Using the rubrics in Howard et al.'s (2018) Guiding Principles of Dual Language Education, teach ers can score their pro gram at the end of the year and doc u ment the successes and chal lenges in each area. This data will allow pro gram fac ulty and lead ers to stra te gi cally plan next steps, decide on addi tional pro fes sional devel op ment needed, and deter mine whether they are collecting the appro pri ate and nec es sary data. A pro gram review depends on a 360 degree look at a school using sur veys and a thor ough anal y sis of one's school cul ture, aca demic achieve ment, Cath o lic iden tity, par ent sat is fac tion, finances, pro gram ming and plan ning. Through the yearly pro gram review, school lead ers learn when to make nec es sary adjust ments and changes, and when to stay the course. This "BuildMeasureLearn feed back loop" (Ries, 2011, p. 22) is nec es sary for mean ing ful school change.
The reflec tive pro cess helps fos ter the cre a tion and main te nance of orga ni za tional rou tines (Sherer & Spillane, 2011). Further, using com mon dig i tal fold ers for school data and pro gram reviews is par a mount for ensur ing that best prac tices are con tin ued, and his tor i cal insti tu tional knowl edge is pre served, even with turn over of fac ulty, staff, and lead er ship.

Conclusion
In this paper we have presented dual lan guage edu ca tion as a model that aligns with our mis sion as Cath o lic edu ca tion lead ers. Twoway immer sion dual lan guage is more than a lan guage pro gram; it is a tested model that has the poten tial to develop inclu sive and equi ta ble com mu ni ties where stu dents' lin guis tic, cul tural and eth nic back grounds are con sid ered assets worth maintaining, and are seen as gifts to one self and to one another. Communities of Practice, moti vated by Jesus' exam ple, have the power to con tinue to design and refine schools, transforming them into dynamic, young, and pluricultural microChurches. It is our desire that the phil o soph i cal back ground and the steps we offer, pres ent a path way toward a poten tial school ren o va tion and trans for ma tion.