Initiatives - DLI Alliance - About

Representing an initial network of more than 450 dual language programs with nearly 70,000 students enrolled from elementary through high school, our alliance of K-12 practitioners and researchers is formed around a shared need for better evidence about problems, issues, and practices associated with developing and implementing dual language immersion programs in secondary schools across the US

Given the significant role that dual language learning can play in addressing longstanding equity issues in US preK-12 education, it is essential that practitioners have access to the best policy-oriented research available.

The Alliance will follow the lead of best practices in researcher-practitioner partnerships by creating a fully collaborative environment in which practitioners bring their questions to researchers so that the two communities may jointly explore broader lessons for the field. To enable educators and policymakers to deliver programs best suited to fulfill the potential of this promising intervention, we believe that researchers and practitioners must work together to bring evidence to decisions about practice and bring the realities of practice to inform research.

Our Alliance structure creates an environment in which researchers can study the core problems facing districts and states and then work with practitioners to build the capacity to improve practice.