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The school performance of pupils in Grades K‐2 of the French immersion program in operation in Ottawa public schools is evaluated in comparison with that of pupils in the regular English program. The results from three successive cohorts indicate that by the end of Kindergarten pupils in both programs are equally ready for beginning school work in Grade 1. By the end of Grade 1 immersion program pupils taught reading in French are found to lag behind their peers in the regular program in English language skills involving English reading, but they show some ability to transfer reading skills from French to English. By the end of Grade 2, following the introduction of English Language Arts into the curriculum for 60 minutes a day, immersion pupils have generally caught up to their regular program peers in English language skills. Throughout Grades K‐2 pupils in the two programs perform equivalently in mathematical skills and show the same level of cognitive development. Immersion pupils reveal a considerably higher level of achievement in French than pupils of corresponding or higher grade levels receiving daily instruction in French‐as‐a‐second‐language, and do reasonably well in comparison with native French‐speaking pupils. The findings of the evaluation corroborate those of other similar immersion programs involving smaller numbers of children and classes.
Barik et al. (Sun,) studied this question.