How many ELL students are there in the US?

There are now an estimated 4.9 million children in U.S. public schools learning the English language. These students are in classrooms in most school systems—and enrollment is surging in states across the South and Midwest that had almost no English-learners at the turn of the century.

How many states require bilingual education?

As of September 2019, 37 states and D.C. formally recognize students’ bilingualism at graduation (California among them), and three more states, including Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi, are considering developing similar initiatives.

What states prohibit bilingual education?

Historically, other states such as California, Massachusetts, and Arkansas have also passed laws prohibiting the use of bilingual instruction in public schools. California has since repealed that measure, and Massachusetts is close to repealing theirs.

How many schools are bilingual in California?

According to the California Basic Educational Data System, 1,490 schools reported having some kind of bilingual or multilingual program in 2018-19, including 747 dual-language immersion programs.

Are all ELL students immigrants?

While some ELLs are immigrants and newcomers to this country, the majority of ELLs enrolled in U.S. schools are born in the U.S. and as such, they are American citizens: 85 percent of pre-kindergarten to 5th grade ELL students and 62 percent of 6th to 12th grade ELL students are born in the U.S. (Zong and Batalova.

Why is bilingual education controversial?

The primary reason it has become so controversial is that many believe that those who live in the U.S. should be completely “Americanized,” meaning that instruction should be only in English.

Is Spanish taught in American schools?

Not surprisingly, Spanish is also the foreign/world language most often taught in public and private schools in the U.S. Although the selection of languages to be taught in schools sometimes appears to be politically motivated – schools change the languages they offer according to major world events and sociopolitical …

Do bilingual students do better in school?

[8] In school and beyond, bilingual students are equipped with many unique strengths. For example, bilingual students usually have stronger working memories and attention spans. [9] These skills alone can lead to both academic and behavioral gains as well as a stronger learning environment in your classroom.

Is bilingual education illegal in California?

In 1960 the state of California passed a state legislation that changed bilingual education in the state. In 1998 proposition 227 was enacted in the state of California which resulted in the near elimination of bilingual education programs in California.

How many people are bilingual in California?

More than 40 percent of residents of the nation’s most populous state speak a language other than English at home, according to data released this week by the United States Census Bureau.

What do ELL students struggle with?

ELL students struggle academically for a variety of reasons. Think about it—the challenges of learning a new language, the many exceptions in the English language, and differences in regional dialects—they’re all overwhelming factors that can frustrate your ELL students.

How many bilingual kids are there in the United States?

The Number of Bilingual Kids in America Continues to Rise In 2016, 22% of children in the United States — slightly more than 12 million kids total — spoke a language other than English at home. This rate has risen 2%, by 1.2 million kids, in the last decade.

What was the history of bilingual education in the United States?

The history of bilingual education in the United States has shifted between tolerance and repression depending on politics, the economy, and the size of the immigrant population. Languages other than English have been (and continue to be) primarily seen as a problem to be remediated by the schools.

Why is bilingualism a problem in the United States?

I spent five years writing a book about a high school in East Los Angeles where nearly every parent lacked a college degree, but nearly every student was bilingual. The school had a bad reputation because of low test scores in reading and math, even though its students’ bilingualism put schools in rich parts of town to shame.

How many English language learners are there in the United States?

The percentage of public school students in the United States who were English language learners (ELLs) was higher in fall 2015 (9.5 percent, or 4.8 million students) than in fall 2000 (8.1 percent, or 3.8 million students).