Mapping & Enhancing Language Learning (MELL) in Washington State

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High School Comparison 2004-2007

The Mapping & Enhancing Language Learning (MELL) Project at the University of Washington is gathering information about what languages are taught where in our state.

This is an initial comparison of data from the 2004 World Languages Survey and the 2007 MELL Survey.

Report Current as of July 17, 2007
Data based on 463 Public High Schools in Washington state, where 367 reported in 2007 and 160 reported in 2004.
(Note: From the 2004 Survey, we do not have a count of schools that indicated that they did not offer World Languages.)

2007 2007 (%)* 2004 2004 (%) change (%)

Total Public High Schools 367 100% 160 100%

Offer World Languages 296 81% N/A

Do Not Offer World Languages 71 19% N/A

Offer Specific Languages:

Spanish 269 90.9% 137 85.6% 5.3%

French 157 53.0% 98 61.3% -8.2%

German 80 27.0% 64 40.0% -13.0%

ASL 64 21.6% 46 28.8% -7.1%

Japanese 68 23.0% 39 24.4% -1.4%

Latin 7 2.4% 10 6.3% -3.9%

Chinese 17 5.7% 7 4.4% 1.4%

Russian 9 3.0% 6 3.8% -0.7%

Arabic 0 0.0% 1 0.6% -0.6%

Native American Languages 3 1.0% 1.0%

* Calculated based on total schools that do offer languages.

Caveat: We are not comparing here the same schools in two different time periods. There is some overlap, but many schools that responded in 2004 have not provided 2007 data, and many schools that provided 2007 data did not participate in 2004. Over time -- with a more complete sample -- we will be able to track more accurately trends in languages offered.

MELL c/o UW Language Learning Center | Denny Hall 108 Box 353140 | Seattle, WA 98195 | 206.543.0536 | mellwa@u.washington.edu