Duluth’s Dual-Language Charter School Is Growing Into a Full K-8 Campus
Yi Hwang Academy in Duluth is expanding to become a full K-8 charter school with dual-language immersion in Korean and Mandarin. It now serves over 500 students with plans to add eighth grade.
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A Duluth charter school built around Korean and Mandarin language immersion is preparing for another period of growth, five years after opening with just over 100 students.
Yi Hwang Academy of Language Excellence is seeking city approval to expand its use of property along River Green Parkway, where the school has been assembling a larger campus. The Duluth City Council is scheduled to consider the request July 13.
The larger story, however, is not the building itself. It is the rapid development of a relatively young public school that now serves more than 500 students and is adding the final grades needed to become a full kindergarten-through-eighth-grade academy.
What Kind of School Is Yi Hwang Academy?
Yi Hwang Academy, often called YHALE, is a tuition-free public charter school specializing in dual-language education.
Students choose either a Korean-English or Mandarin-English track. In elementary school, approximately half of the instructional day is taught in English and half in the selected Asian language. Middle school students spend a greater share of the day in English while continuing substantial instruction in Korean or Mandarin.
That makes the program different from a traditional foreign-language class. Students are not simply memorizing vocabulary for an hour each week. They may learn academic subjects and complete ordinary classroom work in both languages, with the goal of becoming bilingual and able to read and write in each language.
The school also uses Singapore Math, project-based instruction and teaching methods commonly associated with gifted education across its classrooms. Its long-term plans include building a stronger science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics program.
The academy is named for Yi Hwang, a 16th-century Korean scholar and teacher whose work remains influential in Korean intellectual history.
What Does “Charter School” Mean?
Although Yi Hwang Academy operates independently from Gwinnett County Public Schools, it is still a public school. Families do not pay tuition, and the school receives public funding based largely on enrollment.
Charter schools are granted greater freedom to organize their curriculum and educational model around a specific mission. In return, they operate under a performance agreement and must meet academic, financial and operational expectations established by their authorizer.
Yi Hwang Academy is authorized by the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia. Unlike a conventional neighborhood school, it has a statewide attendance zone. Any eligible Georgia student may apply, and a lottery must be used when applications exceed the number of available seats.
Its Duluth location places it within a practical commuting distance for families in much of Gwinnett, as well as parts of Johns Creek, Peachtree Corners, Suwanee and nearby communities.
A Diverse Student Body
The language focus may suggest a school serving almost exclusively Korean or Chinese families, but the enrollment is broader than that.
For the 2024-25 school year, the academy enrolled 459 students. About 61 percent were Asian, while 16 percent were multiracial, 9 percent were Hispanic, nearly 9 percent were Black and about 4 percent were White. A small number of American Indian or Alaska Native students were also enrolled.
Yi Hwang Academy says its families speak not only Korean, Mandarin and English at home, but also Cantonese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Russian, Indonesian, French, Japanese, Farsi and other languages.
Some students enter with Korean or Mandarin already spoken at home and use the program to strengthen literacy in a family language. Others come from English-speaking households with no previous connection to either language. The immersion program is designed to accommodate both groups.
That mix gives the school a distinctly Duluth character. Few places in Georgia have the same concentration of Asian-owned businesses, multilingual households, international restaurants and families connected to industries operating across the Pacific.
From 111 Students to More Than 500
The academy plans to add eighth grade for 2026-27, completing its transition from an elementary school into a K-8 campus.
Its own projections anticipated enrollment reaching 663 students and potentially approaching 800 in the following years. The student-teacher ratio was fewer than 12 students for each classroom teacher, although staffing will need to continue changing as enrollment and grade levels grow.
The faculty itself reflects the school’s international mission. Teacher biographies include educators trained in Georgia, Korea, China, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and other parts of the United States. Korean and Mandarin instructors often bring years of language-teaching experience from schools and universities overseas.
Top photo, courtesy of Yi Hwang Academy of Language Excellence – YHALE
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