Cherokee Nation’s private language immersion school in Tahlequah could become a chartered public school under the amended Oklahoma Charter School Act.

The act, amended in 2001, now allows tribes to sponsor language-immersion charter schools. The Cherokee Nation is applying for charter status for the 2011-2012 school year.

The Cherokee Nation immersion school (tsa la gi tsu na de lo qua s di in the Cherokee language) began in 2001 as a private preschool.

Each year, the Nation has added another grade level to the school, said Melanie Knight, group leader of Cherokee Nation Education Services. In 2011-2012, the school will be pre-K through eighth-grade.

Becoming a public charter school means students will take state standardized testing, and their scores will be made public. It also means that the school cannot turn away students based on race when it becomes public.

However, students will need to know enough of the Cherokee language by kindergarten to be successful in the school, Knight said.

“We will have the same professional development standards as all other public schools,” Knight said. “We do a quality job at Sequoyah Schools, and we want everyone else to know we do a quality job.”

The immersion school has based its curriculum on Oklahoma Priority Academic Student Skills, translating them into Cherokee, then creating lesson plans from them as all public schools do.

Students, teachers and staff speak, write and read Cherokee in every subject except English. As a public charter school, the students will be expected to pass standardized state testing in English, Knight said.

“Because students are learning English at home, we expect our students to do well,” she said. “We also have an after-school English program for students.”

Tulsa area language-immersion schools’ success on standardized testing support the research that shows bilingual students typically do better academically than students who speak only one language, Knight said.

“It’s pretty amazing how quickly the kids pick it up,” she said. “Listening to them play with each other, even argue in Cherokee is pretty amazing.”

The immersion school was started as a way to help the Cherokee Nation preserve its language.

“What we found when we started this school, was that our fluent speakers were aging and there were very few young people speaking the language,” Knight said.

Major efforts are necessary to save the Cherokee language, as well as most native languages, Knight said.

“I think I can safely say this is the most effective way we’ve found so far to produce fluent speakers,” she said.

Reach Wendy Burton at (918) 684-2926 or wburton@muskogeephoenix.com.