WASHINGTON—Thousands of public schools stopped teaching foreign languages in the last decade, according to a survey. But another contrary trend has educators and policy makers abuzz: a rush by schools in all parts of America to offer instructions in Chinese. Some schools are paying for Chinese classes on their own,but hundreds are getting some help. The Chinese government is sending teachers from China to schools all over the world—and paying part of their salaries. No one keeps an exact count, but rough calculations based on the government's survey suggest that perhaps 1,600 American public and private schools are teaching Chinese, up from 300 or so a decade ago. And the number is growing exponentially. "It's really changing the language education landscape of this country," said Nancy C.Rhodes,director at the center. Other indicators point to the same trend." The number of students taking the Advanced Placement test in Chinese, introduced in 2007,has grown so fast that it is likely to pass German this year as the third most-tested A.P.language, after Spanish and French", said Trevor Packer, vice president at the College Board. "We've all been surprised that in such a short time Chinese would grow to surpass A.P.German,"Mr.Packer said. A decade ago,most of the schools with Chinese programs were on the East and West Coasts.But in recent years, many schools have started Chinese programs in heartland states,including Ohio and Illinois in the Midwest,Texas and Georgia in the South,and Colorado and Utah in the Rocky Mountain West. America has had the study of a foreign language grow before,only to see the bubble burst.Many schools began teaching Japanese in the 1980s,after Japan emerged as an economic rival.But thousands have dropped the language, the survey found.Japanese is not the only language that has declined.Thousands of schools that offered French, German or Russian have stopped teaching those languages,too,the survey found.