Anna F. Doerfler School is a fully biliterate, bicultural school.

We offer two options: a developmental bilingual program for Spanish-speaking students, or an English-only educational experience. Developmental bilingual education means that students are taught to read, write and understand their lessons in Spanish and in English. Our teachers are fully licensed and certified in bilingual education.

We value supporting our students’ native language as they reach proficiency in English. Over 80 percent of our Doerfler families are of Hispanic descent, and nearly 60 percent of our students are English language learners. Our program does not replace Spanish with English. It promotes learning and high achievement in both languages and encourages students to appreciate both cultures.

Spanish-speaking students use their primary language and English as they learn, through three steps:

1. Building Oracy: Students develop speaking and listening skills, build their vocabulary and an understanding of what words mean, and learn how to process what they learn.
2. The Bridge: Students learn to recognize what is the same and what is different in the two languages, that you can use language in different ways depending on what you want to say, and that words and sentences can have more than one meaning.
3. The Extension: Students are given meaningful and interesting ways to use both languages equally.

Doerfler School also offers a fully bilingual, full-day K3 Head Start program.

For more information on having your child screened and enrolled in bilingual, multicultural education, please contact the Lau Compliance Center at 414-475-8525.

Learn more about Milwaukee Public Schools’ bilingual dual-language programs.