sep 3, 1964 - Coral Way Elementary School established

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Coral Way Elementary School opened in Miami-Dade County, Florida. This was the first publicly-funded bilingual school in the United States and, in many ways, was an experimental project in bilingual education. It was heavily advocated for by the Cuban community in Miami.

Students learned the curriculum for the first half of the day in their native language, then switched in the second half (classes were offered in English and Spanish). Data showed that students made progress in both languages without any deficits in their native language, and students scored well on state tests.

This school's success helped end many of the moral panics over bilingualism "eroding American education" and helped lay groundwork for the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. Since Coral Way opened, there are now thousands of dual language immersion programs in the United States. CWES is still open today as the Coral Way Bilingual K-8 Center.

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