Heritage speakers of non-English languages in the US may have good speaking and listening skills (typically learned at home for any language, including English), but weaker reading and writing skills (typically learned in school, even for English speakers in the US).
Presumably, an immersion experience in school will include reading and writing instruction in that language.
But, ucb, that’s through 9th and immersion; we don’t know how this matches or approximates the course content adcoms can expect in high school. The FL requirement isn’t just about speaking, reading, writing and classes in the 2nd language. It’s also about the presumed content. By the end of 9th, will he have covered the topics typically covered in higher level FL courses or just happened to be taught through 9th in a foreign language? There’s a difference. Same as if he had lived abroad.
I think it’s better to plan as best one can, than assume thus is just about the AP exam.
@ucbalumnus That’s probably typically true. In my family, however, I have one daughter who hasn’t had any academic French since 3rd grade and is an excellent reader and writer of French but a hesitant speaker. My youngest has had “native” English classes since 4th grade but, seriously, they are reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 7th grade! She is a voracious reader of good English books and is a truly good writer in English (seriously, way beyond where I was as a college freshman majoring in Creative Writing) – and a not-at-all-hestitant speaker (unlike her sister in French).
The one thing I’ve learned, absolutely, since becoming the mother of bi/trilingual kids is that there are no absolutes.