Spanish Immersion
We aim to be a great elementary school for any student and we want to have a student body that reflects both our entire school’s and Portland’s wonderful diversity. Our immersion program allows students to learn academic content while gaining literacy in Spanish and English. Students learn from heritage and home language Spanish-speaking educators as they develop proficiency in both languages.
2026-2027 Spanish Immersion Program Registration
Next year's (2026-27) Spanish Immersion Kindergarten Spanish Immersion class will be the last full kindergarten class (20 students) of this program in its current version. Based on the recent Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) ESOL & Spanish Immersion Program Review, we will be transitioning future K classes to a dual language immersion program starting in the 2027-28 school year. Please complete this application below if you wish to enroll in the 2026-27 kindergarten Spanish Immersion program next fall. If there are more requests than places available, we will have a lottery process.
Lyseth Elementary Enrollment Process and Priorities for Spanish Immersion Program
Lottery Philosophy: We aim to be a great elementary school for any student and we want to have a student body that reflects both our entire school’s and Portland’s wonderful diversity.
Our lottery process strives to promote that as best we can to be demographically representative of our greater Lyseth school community, including diversity of students who receive free or reduced lunch, students who receive special education services and students who are considered by PPS as “Multilingual Learners.”
Our lottery process also guarantees a spot to siblings of current Spanish Immersion students, following previously agreed upon protocols created to support language learning in the home. (Please Note: 26-27 Kindergarten students who have siblings in the 25-26 5th grade - or who have siblings who are alumni of the SI program at Lyseth – are not guaranteed a spot in the program. They do NOT have an advantage (or disadvantage) in the lottery.)
Lottery Priorities
- Up to 10 spots for kinder siblings of current Spanish Immersion students who live in the Lyseth boundary.
- Remaining spots will go to, in order of priority:
- Boundary students who apply
- Portland district students who apply
- Out of district students who apply
Lottery Process
- All incoming kinder students who have submitted a Spanish Immersion Commitment and Lottery Form by May 31 will comprise the lottery pool. Students must be living in the Lyseth boundary of Portland by the first day of school to be considered a part of the “boundary” pool.
- Before the lottery begins, any sibling of current Spanish Immersion students in the pool will be offered a spot. Sibling status should be indicated on the student's commitment form and confirmed by Lyseth staff before the time of the lottery. Step-sibling and half-siblings are considered siblings.
- The students remaining in the pool will be assigned one lottery number using a random number generator. The lower the lottery number, the greater the likelihood that a student will have a place in the SI program at Lyseth.
- Spots in the class will then be filled by lottery number, from lowest to highest – within the three priorities.
- Students not offered a spot will be placed on a wait list, ordered by lottery number and priority groups.
- Lyseth staff will promptly communicate lottery results to all families. Any student who is on the accepted student list is presumed to be attending the SI program at Lyseth for the fall of 2026. If a student has received a lottery spot in the SI program at Lyseth and decides to attend another school, the parent or guardian should let Lyseth know as soon as possible.
- A maximum of 20 students will be accepted into the kindergarten class. PPS class size is set at 20 for kindergarten.
Special cases:
- In the event that twins (or triplets) from the same family are in the lottery pool, they will be treated during the lottery number generation process as one student and given one number (assuring that either both students will get offered a spot – or both will not). In the unlikely event that the twins draw the final spot in the class, both will be admitted.
- If at the end of this process, there are additional spots available, applicants from outside the Lyseth boundary whose home or primary language is not Spanish will be considered.
1st-5th Grade Students:
- Whenever space allows, (when a class is under the designated Portland cap numbers) we will try and add students to Spanish Immersion classes. Students will be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on the grade level - they will need to have a grade level (or close to) equivalent proficiency of Spanish to be considered to be added to the program. Interested families can contact the Lyseth office directly and if no space is available, they may submit their names to be contacted later on if space does open up. The same priorities will apply for students joining the program in 1st-5th as in the kinder lottery.