Yvonne's Tips For Teacher Blog

Yvonne's Tips For Teacher Blog

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Post 124: ELL in US Public Schools





   Spanish was the home language of 3.79 million ELL public school students in fall 2016, representing 76.6 percent of all ELL students and 7.7 percent of all public K–12 students. Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese were the next most commonly reported home languages (spoken by 129,400; 104,100; and 78,700 students, respectively). English was the fifth most common home language for ELL students (70,000 students), which may reflect students who live in multilingual households or students adopted from other countries who were raised speaking another language but currently live in households where English is spoken. Somali (38,400 students), Russian (34,800 students), Hmong (33,100 students), Haitian (31,600 students), and Portuguese (28,200 students) were the next most commonly reported home languages of ELL students in fall 2016. The 30 most commonly reported home languages also include several whose prevalence has increased rapidly in recent years. For example, the number of ELLs who reported that their home language was Nepali or a Karen language5 more than quadrupled between school year 2008–09 and fall 2016 (from 3,200 to 13,800 students for Nepali and from 3,000 to 13,400 students for Karen languages).6






In fall 2016, there were about 3.82 million Hispanic ELL public school students, constituting over three-quarters (77.2 percent) of ELL student enrollment overall.7 Asian students were the next largest racial/ethnic group among ELLs, with 521,300 students (10.5 percent of ELL students). In addition, there were 314,000 White ELL students (6.3 percent of ELL students) and 193,500 Black ELL students (3.9 percent of ELL students). In each of the other racial/ethnic groups for which data were collected (Pacific Islanders, American Indians/Alaska Natives, and individuals of Two or more races), fewer than 40,000 students were identified as ELLs. In addition, some 700,900 ELL students were identified as students with disabilities, representing 14.2 percent of the total ELL population enrolled in U.S. public elementary and secondary schools.

1 Genesee, F., Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W., and Christian, D. (2005). English Language Learners in U.S. Schools: An Overview of Research Findings. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 10 (4): 363–385. Retrieved January 22, 2019, from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327671espr1004_2.
2 For 2014 and earlier years, data on the total number of ELLs enrolled in public schools and on the percentage of public school students who were ELLs include only those ELL students who participated in ELL programs. Starting with 2015, data include all ELL students, regardless of program participation. Due to this change in definition, comparisons between 2016 and earlier years should be interpreted with caution. For all years, data do not include students who were formerly identified as ELLs but later obtained English language proficiency.
3 Categorizations are based on unrounded percentages.
4 Saunders, W.M., and Marcelletti, D.J. (2013). The Gap That Can’t Go Away: The Catch-22 of Reclassification in Monitoring the Progress of English Learners. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 35(2): 139–156. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0162373712461849.
5 Includes several languages spoken by the Karen ethnic groups of Burma and by individuals of Karen descent in the United States.
6 School year 2008–09 data include all ELL students enrolled at any time during the 2008–09 school year, except data for California that reflect ELL students enrolled on a single date. All other data in this indicator include only ELL students enrolled on October 1 of the corresponding year.
7 The number of Hispanic ELL students is larger than the number of ELL students who speak Spanish. Home language data may be missing for some Hispanic ELL students. In addition, some Hispanic ELL students may report that they speak a language other than Spanish at home (such as a language that is indigenous to Latin America).


1 Detail does not sum to 100 percent because not all categories are reported.
2 Examples of situations in which English might be reported as an ELL student’s home language include students who live in multilingual households and students adopted from other countries who speak English at home but also have been raised speaking another language.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, EDFacts file 141, Data Group 678, extracted October 18, 2018; and Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary and Secondary Education,” 2016–17. See Digest of Education Statistics 2018, table 204.27.

D. (2005). English Language Learners in U.S. Schools: An Overview of Research Findings. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 10 (4): 363–385. Retrieved January 22, 2019, from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327671espr1004_2.
2 For 2014 and earlier years, data on the total number of ELLs enrolled in public schools and on the percentage of public school students who were ELLs include only those ELL students who participated in ELL programs. Starting with 2015, data include all ELL students, regardless of program participation. Due to this change in definition, comparisons between 2016 and earlier years should be interpreted with caution. For all years, data do not include students who were formerly identified as ELLs but later obtained English language proficiency.
3 Categorizations are based on unrounded percentages.
4 Saunders, W.M., and Marcelletti, D.J. (2013). The Gap That Can’t Go Away: The Catch-22 of Reclassification in Monitoring the Progress of English Learners. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 35(2): 139–156. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0162373712461849.
5 Includes several languages spoken by the Karen ethnic groups of Burma and by individuals of Karen descent in the United States.
6 School year 2008–09 data include all ELL students enrolled at any time during the 2008–09 school year, except data for California that reflect ELL students enrolled on a single date. All other data in this indicator include only ELL students enrolled on October 1 of the corresponding year.
7 The number of Hispanic ELL students is larger than the number of ELL students who speak Spanish. Home language data may be missing for some Hispanic ELL students. In addition, some Hispanic ELL students may report that they speak a language other than Spanish at home (such as a language that is indigenous to Latin America).

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