27 Jun 2007
DALLAS—The Dallas Independent School District has been awarded a three-year Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant from the U. S. Department of Education for $830,967 to help increase the number of students learning foreign languages critical to national security and commerce
Fifty-two grants totaling $8.7 million dollars were awarded to school districts in 20 states; Dallas was one of only three school districts in Texas awarded this grant. Others are El Paso - Ysleta Independent School District and Houston Independent School District.
Dallas ISD's Distance Learning Coordinator, Vicky Mitcham-Probeck, who wrote the grant, will be the project director. This grant will enable Dallas ISD to expand its current Russian language program as well as introduce Japanese and Chinese distance learning instruction to schools in the district.
As part of President Bush's National Security Language Initiative, the grant is intended to address the shortage of critical foreign language speakers by supporting new and expanded programs in grades K-12.
According to the State Department, less than one percent of American high school students study Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Russian or Urdu.