What to tell parents: Students who study a foreign language benefit in quantifiable ways.  Research shows that students' overall school performance and problem-solving skills improve when they study a foreign language; that multiple years of foreign-language study raises SAT scores more than multiple years of study in any other subject area; and that foreign-language learners have high academic achievement in college. The College Board reports that students who completed at least four years of a foreign language scored more than 100 points higher on the SAT (both portions) than students who took one semester or less of a foreign language. Additionally students benefit from the increased ability to communicate effectively with people from other cultures and countries.  This life-long cultural and linguistic fluency contributes to personal satisfaction and a sense of achievement.  It also suggests an interest in people from other cultures; an interest which can open doors for our Indiana students.  What to tell administrators:  All students should learn or maintain at least one language in addition to English.  Learning languages should be a central part of the curriculum at all levels of instruction.  Language learning should be offered in a clearly-sequential curriculum that allows for increasing levels of proficiency at each level of instruction. Source: "What Do We and Our Students Need in Indiana?" - Recommendations of the Indiana Task Force on Foreign Language Learning (2006).