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Excellence and Justice in Education Academies (EJEA) received approval of its charter petition to establish EJE Elementary Academy (EJEEA) on December 2004. EJEA was founded as a result to the closing of a local elementary school, Ballantyne that served predominately minority, low-income children. Our school opened its doors to the community in Fall 2005 and currently, serves 447 students in grades K-5 with a waitlist that exceeds 490 students.

At EJE Elementary Academy, the 90-10 Dual Language model promotes both Spanish and English as languages of equal value. By placing importance on both languages we are not only preparing our students for a multi-lingual, multicultural global society, but they are also learning language and inquiry through culture that strengthens and fosters the Latino culture. EJE Academies’ Dual Language Program is a school-wide program beginning in Kindergarten and going on through middle school years.

Beginning in Kindergarten, 90% of instruction is conducted in Spanish, and 10% in English. It is through this concept of "total immersion" in Spanish that children first begin to acquire the foundation that will anchor their progress as they embark in a journey towards bilingualism and bi-literacy. In the 1st grade, 80% of the instruction is conducted in Spanish and 20% in English. In 2nd grade, 70% in Spanish and 30% in English. This pattern continues until the 4th grade where it then becomes and stays at 50% in Spanish and 50% in English. Researchers in the area of Dual Language programs have concluded that once children have become fully bilingual, they start to outperform their peers academically as they progress through middle school, high school, and beyond. It is during the formative years of brain development when our students are learning two languages that the foundation is laid for future success. Based on the second language acquisition theory and the structure of the dual language program, students must enter the program in kindergarten. The goal is to recruit equal numbers of native and non-native speakers by grade level.

The pedagogical advantages of the 90-10 English/Spanish dual-language model are self-evident. For native English speakers, the dual-language model allows the focus to shift to the target language, Spanish. This model provides the student with a strong foundation in Spanish literacy with academic instruction that will lead to proficiency in both languages as the shift from one language decreases and the other increases.

For non-native English Speakers (Spanish speaking students), the 90-10 model provides students to be well grounded in Spanish literacy through academic instruction, as the English language is progressively introduced each year. Specifically, with our incoming Spanish-speaking student population, the initial focus of the Spanish language provides the student with the requisite language and academic vocabulary levels in their primary language, which results in greater academic success as they transition to the English language.

This winter, our school received a 5-year approval of its charter petition by our authorizer, Cajon Valley Union School District.