Education

Keep up with Columbia public schools

Below the overview of the district are links to KBIA's coverage of Columbia 93 district schools, updated as more stories are published. Columbia 93 at a glanceThe Columbia 93 school district currently includes 32 different schools. In 2014, the district had a k-12 enrollment of 17,204 students, which is 2% of the total k-12 enrollment for the state. Enrollment has been slightly increasing in recent years, 2% since 2011. While a small percent, that amounts to almost 400 more students. There have also been major re-drawing of attendance areas with the addition of Battle High School. Middle school attendance areas shape high school boundaries 00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2f9e0000The changes have affected all schools in the district, including causing high school attendance to increase and overcrowding at one middle school at least.

Dual immersion language program could be coming to Columbia

KBIA | By Lauren Slome

Published June 10, 2014 at 3:45 PM CDT

Columbia educators are considering plans for a dual-immersion language program.

The program incorporates both English and Spanish as a mode of communication and incoming Columbia Schools Superintendent Peter Stiepleman says it would be a good next step for some Columbia Public Schools. If approved, the dual-immersion program would create one class per grade of combined English and Spanish-native speakers who would learn a certain percentage of their studies in Spanish and the rest in English. The classes would begin in Kindergarten and continue through middle school.

Lisa Dorner is an assistant professor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis department at MU. She says that the program has seen success elsewhere and would be a way to help Columbia public school education advance. Dorner has previously studied dual-immersion programs in St. Louis. After witnessing their success, she says she is interested in seeing that opportunity for students in Columbia as well.

If adopted, the program could begin in Columbia Public Schools as early as 2015. The Board of Education has asked to hear more on the subject in the fall.