Enhancing Foreign Language Proficiency  In the United States

Preliminary Results of
The National Security Language Initiative

In January 2006, President Bush announced the National Security
Language Initiative (NSLI), an inter-agency effort coordinated by the
White House to dramatically increase the number of Americans learning,
speaking, and teaching critical need foreign languages. Foreign
language skills are essential to engaging foreign governments and
peoples, especially in critical world regions, to promote
understanding, convey respect for other cultures, and encourage
reform. These skills are also fundamental to the economic
competitiveness and security interests of the nation.

The Secretaries of State, Education, and Defense and the Director of
National Intelligence launched this comprehensive and coordinated
national initiative with new programs and resources to expand U.S.
critical foreign language education beginning in kindergarten and
continuing through elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education
and into the workforce.

This report outlines what has been done to date with the NSLI
initiative.  The document is available from the U.S. Department of
Education.

See:

http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/competitiveness/nsli/nsli-preliminary-results.pdf