Laguna Hills High School is proud to be a member of the International Spanish Academies. The International Spanish Academies (I.S.A.) is an international effort between the Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain and Canadian educational administrations consisting of an educational curriculum in English/ French and Spanish for the purpose of reaching the following objectives:

• To promote the academic success of students in all areas of study.
• To educate students under the values of multicultural education, values that make international communication and respect among different cultures possible.
• To enable students to effectively use and express themselves in English/ French and Spanish, both in their personal encounters and in the educational process.
• To facilitate and promote the access of I.S.A. students to centers of higher education of recognized academic prestige in the United States and Canada, in Spain/Europe, and in Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America.
• To prepare students for their professional development in an international setting.
• To encourage participation of the different groups and social sectors of the community in an integrative educational project.

The I.S.A. can be set up in schools or sections of a school (elementary, middle or high schools) that are in a position to initiate or are already developing a curriculum of quality education in English and Spanish. The Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain will make available to I.S.A. the following resources and programs:

• Access to a dual diploma
• Specialized Visiting Teachers
• Teacher exchange with Spain
• Language/Culture Assistants
• Teacher training courses at Spanish universities
• Specific teacher training activities in the United States
• Student exchange
• Sister schools in Spain
• Participation in a network of I.S.A. in North America
• Classroom and curricular materials and resources
• Pedagogic guidance

View the Saddleback Valley Unified School District's Dual Language Immersion Brochure

Program Model

The Dual Language Language Immersion Program is a challenging and rigorous academic program in which Spanish is used as the primary language of instruction in the younger grades.

The optimal classroom population is half native English-speaking students and half native Spanish-speaking students. SVUSD implements a 90/10 immersion model in which kindergarten and first grade students receive 90% of daily instruction in Spanish and 10% in English. The percentage of English instruction increases as seen below.