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Description
The number of elementary Mandarin dual language immersion (MDLI) programs continues to grow across the United States. The lack of available and proven effective Mandarin language arts curriculum and assessments aligned to state and world language standards, including age-appropriate and high-quality reading materials, remains a serious issue for educators in this field. This program evaluation sought evidence to prove early indicators of effectiveness of the Level Chinese system and its ability to meet the needs of the students and teachers in the MDLI program at ABC Elementary School. Level Chinese is an online digital platform that offers a complete balanced literacy system for teachers and students with the goal of making Chinese literacy achievable. This evaluation employed quantitative and qualitative approaches. Six participants used the Level Chinese system with 195 students for a six-month evaluation period. During this time, data were collected from focus group discussions, student extant assessment and usage reports, and participant surveys. Evaluation findings indicate the program was adequately implemented, with the exception of adaptations made due to real-world contextual factors. Teacher input and student data reports demonstrate an initial positive impact on students' abilities to read and comprehend in Mandarin, and moderately increase the effectiveness of the MDLI program at ABC Elementary. Future evaluation of the Level Chinese product is recommended to determine the long-term and sustainable impact it has on a student's ability to read and comprehend in Mandarin, and a teacher's ability to teach Mandarin as a second language more effectively.
