YAKIMA, Wash. — Teachers in the Yakima Valley see it every day: Spanish-speaking children running into an English language barrier.

Many schools have provided dual-language classes to help them. But just how well these classes work remains a point of contention.

Most dual-language classes begin in kindergarten, and they pair a group of English-speaking students with a group equal in size of students fluent in Spanish. The strategy is to teach equally in both languages; the goal is to have students in both groups become bilingual by the time they reach middle school.

National studies show that elementary students who become bilingual begin to outperform other students by the time they reach the seventh grade. But in Wapato — where 67 percent of students are Latino — test scores and school grades for those students haven’t been so good, school administrators say.

On Sept. 1, the Wapato School District scrapped all dual-language classes, saying students in those classes lag behind others in meeting state and federal performance standards. Now, students who need help with language are receiving instruction in English, with help in Spanish, only as needed.

“They can’t make progress as fast,” said Wapato’s Director of Bilingual Education Dave Juarez. “We don’t have the time and resources to teach kids Spanish when we have to meet (academic) benchmarks.”

The move has more than 50 parents in this rural town of 4,555 mostly Latino residents calling for the removal of Wapato Superintendent Becky Imler, and several bilingual teachers questioning the research administrators used to justify the change.

Imler said in an interview this week that she has support from many parents on the other side of the issue, and that she stands behind the decision.

“I just really believe that we’re doing what’s best for our community here,” she said.

It’s a controversy nearly inseparable from the national debate over immigration reform and has some questioning whether public schools should be mandated to teach any language other than English.

“There is a very strong anti-immigrant sentiment, especially among (lawmakers),” said Foundation for Child Development President Ruby Takanishi in New York City. “So that’s the big social context dual language is imbedded in. It’s not separate.”

Like most of the school districts in the Yakima Valley, Wapato has a transitional bilingual program geared to help Spanish-speaking students become academically proficient in English.

This year, the Wapato School District received about $708,000 in state funds and another $184,000 from the federal government to provide bilingual education to 186 students of its 3,000-plus enrollment.

Those funds are paying for 10 bilingual teaching assistants, two bilingual teachers and supplemental material in Spanish, school administrators said.

As part of Wapato’s bilingual program, dual-language classes were established nearly a decade ago and eventually were offered in all three elementary schools.

But in 2005, when third-grade students began taking the WASL (Washington State Student Assessment Test) as required by state law, school administrators began dismantling the dual-language program, yanking those classes from two elementary schools. The program remained only at Adams Elementary School.

English proficiency test scores among students in those classes not only showed that they wouldn’t pass the third-grade WASL, but that they wouldn’t transition out of the bilingual program in a timely manner, Bilingual Education Director Juarez said at that time.

Most students entering the district are at an intermediate level in English and only have three years to exit the bilingual program under federal guidelines, at which time they are expected to pass the WASL, he said.

“We really are in a dilemma as far as what the federal guidelines are in terms of students meeting English requirements,” Juarez said.

In the Yakima Valley, Spanish is the dominant language of more than 40 percent of elementary students. This valley has the highest concentration of Latino students anywhere in the state.

In Grandview, which is similar to Wapato in size and demographics, helping students become bilingual through dual-language classes outweighs concern about early academic benchmarks, said Assistant Superintendent Minerva Morales. She said there’s proof these students excel in middle and high school and have sufficient time to meet state standards for graduation.

“I’m looking at these kids being academically successful and bilingually educated by the time they reach middle school,” she said. “We’re extremely hesitant to transition them out of their primary language in first and second grade until they get a firm foundation in their native language.”

Officials at East Valley and Yakima school districts say they, too, see the language immersion classes as a valuable teaching model for students.

Despite the pressure to have students meet academic benchmarks, many parents in Wapato want the dual-language program returned.

Sister Mary Ellen Robinson, who runs a nonprofit program in town that assists immigrant families, said Spanish-speaking parents liked having their children learn reading, writing and math in English and Spanish. It helped make them feel that their children were able to retain their cultural ties to Mexico, while also building new ones here in the U.S., she said.

“Many parents from Mexico preferred Adams Elementary, even if test scores weren’t high,” said Robinson, who operates Marie Rose House. “They want to participate in their children’s learning and life.”

Elvia Castaneda Diaz, a mother of four, gave up on fighting last year when Camas Elementary in the Wapato School District cut its dual-language program.

“I went to some meetings but it didn’t matter,” said Castaneda, a 37-year-old Mexican immigrant who does field work with her husband. “Who knows why the teachers or directors no longer want to teach our kids Spanish?”

She worries that her youngest daughter, 9-year-old Jennifer, can’t read or write in Spanish, unlike her older sisters. The third-grader at Camas Elementary receives all lessons in English.

“What happens when we return to live in Mexico?” asked Castaneda, who only completed the seventh grade herself. “Jennifer will be behind in school there.”

Attitudes about whether public schools should adjust their curriculum to teach these students English vary as much as the programs themselves.

Dual-language programs are popular in other parts of the state, such as Seattle, where families get on waiting lists to have their native English-speaking children learn Spanish or Japanese.

Students taught in dual- language classes are better equipped to face a global economy because they are bilingual, said Takanishi, the president of the Foundation for Child Development.

“It’s kind of a tragedy that we can’t wrap our minds around this,” she said. “It’s a win-win situation — nobody is losing. But the politics are devastating. It’s hard for people to be courageous about this.”

But Max Golladay, chairman of the Yakima County Republican Central Committee, isn’t a fan of dual-language education at the expense of taxpayers.

“I understand some of the problems children face when they don’t speak English and aren’t from an English-speaking family,” he said. “But I don’t see how it becomes society’s problem.”

A half-dozen bilingual teachers who disagree with the decision to end dual-language instruction accuse administrators of trying to rid students of Spanish.

They asked not to be identified, fearing retaliation from administrators. But at least one teacher, Gerene Sadberry, spoke openly about her opposition.

One of her objections is that the administration is looking at reading scores for kindergartners — at the beginning and end of the school year — to review progress. Using that to track progress in English is not a fair assessment, she said.

Sadberry acknowledged the students received little instruction in English in kindergarten, but said they received more in English as they moved into first and second grade.

“We want our kids to grow up and be successful, and in this valley and in this world they’re going to be more successful if they’re bilingual … not to grow up and just work in the fields,” she said.

The 2008-2009 third-grade WASL scores showed Adams Elementary outperforming the other two elementary schools in the district while it still held dual-language classes, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Web site.

Under state law, students who qualify for transitional bilingual services are to receive instruction in their primary language, with reinforcement in English with tests administered in English.

Sadberry questions whether they are getting sufficient classroom support, even in Spanish.

She said teachers in the other elementary schools were told to remove all Spanish books and other material from their classrooms and put them in the hallway for janitors to collect.

“I don’t know if they took it to storage or just threw it in the dumpsters,” she said. “It just boggles the mind how the district is thinking and why they would do these things.”

Juarez said the English-first teaching model works because most of the bilingual students entering the district already have some exposure to English. And he denied any anti-Spanish effort, saying the district is providing supplemental material in Spanish.

OSPI officials in Olympia refused to talk specifically about Wapato and whether it is meeting state guidelines for bilingual education.

In 2005, the state questioned Wapato’s move to utilize an English-first teaching model and blocked the district from completely eliminating dual-language classes.

“That’s an ongoing situation with Wapato, and they’re cooperating,” said Bob Harmon, Special Programs and Federal Accountability with OSPI.

School officials will hold a forum on Nov. 30 at a location that is yet to be decided to explain the changes to parents and answer any questions, said Wapato School Board President Ron Wilcox.

Administrators are backed by the entire school board to stand firm on the change, Wilcox said.

“Until we can find any data that prove we’re wrong — and so far we haven’t done that — this is the direction we’re going in,” he said.