Established in 1977, Longfellow opened as a total-school Spanish language immersion magnet school.  In a total immersion language program, all schooling in the initial years is conducted in the foreign language.  This immersion method was pioneered in Canada, in the 1960’s, to teach the French language to native English speakers.

In a total immersion language program, the regular school curriculum is taught through the medium of a foreign language.  Spanish is the only language of instruction from kindergarten through first Grade with our Grade 2 students receiving 90 minutes of English on Wednesday mornings.  English is formally introduced in third grade.  The following information shows the progression of English instruction:

                                                    Spanish Instruction        English Instruction
Kinder -Grade 2                                   100%                               - 0 -
Grades 3-6                                             85%                               15%
Grades 7-8                                             30%                               70%   

The Longfellow curriculum meets all district and state requirements.  The majority of Longfellow teachers are bilingual in Spanish and English.  Studies have consistently shown that immersion students do as well, and may even surpass, monolingual students on standardized measures of assessment.