The NSBSD currently employs two main approaches. At the elementary level, children whose parents opt to have them in the Iñupiaq Language Program, are placed in an Iñupiaq as a Second Language setting with instruction occurring for a duration of anywhere from 20-30 minutes per day. Parents who live in Barrow also have the option of placing their children in the Iñupiaq Immersion Program where instruction is delivered in Iñupiaq from preschool through fourth grade and are transitioned into English with 90 minutes of instruction in the Iñupiaq language at fifth grade. Children who are in the middle school in Barrow receive instruction in the Iñupiaq language for an uninterrupted duration of 80 minutes per session alternating classes every other day. Secondary school students receive instruction as an elective.

The department's focus for this academic year is to begin implementing recommendations that were formulated by the district's Bilingual Task Force and that resulted from an intensive evaluation of the Iñupiaq Immersion Program. These include activities ranging from curricular refinement, realigning assessment instruments and staff development, to revising instructional delivery.

Departmental goals are to:

• The Bilingual/Multicultural Education Program will work as a team to enhance the Iñupiaq language and culture of the people on the North Slope.
• The Department will also provide support so that a student speaking another language is able to access our educational program more effectively.
• The Department will increase understanding in our communities of the state of the Iñupiaq language and the importance of our language in sustaining the Iñupiaq way of life.
• The Department will assist in enhancing the knowledge of our teachers in the Iñupiaq language and culture to help sustain the Iñupiaq way of life.

Bilingual/Multicultural Instruction Staff