This review explores the multifaceted challenges and strategies related to the education of emergent bilingual (EB) students in the U.S. education system. It highlights three primary themes: program approaches, instructional needs, and the importance of school-home connections. The first theme evaluates various educational programs for EB…

Language assessments are often framed as benign mechanisms needed to objectively classify people's linguistic proficiencies. In this article, I argue for the need to critically re-examine how purportedly objective institutional language assessments and our participation in them deceptively reify historical and contemporary inequities. I offer the…

Providing foundational academic support to Indiana's culturally and linguistically diverse students is a cornerstone of the state's educational goals. Over 140,000 Indiana students speak a language other than English at home, and there are over 295 different languages represented in Indiana schools. Of these, over 93,000 students have been…

English learners (ELs) represent a large and rapidly growing proportion of US public school students. Federal law requires public schools to provide ELs with linguistic supports necessary to equalize their access to instruction with that of native English-speaking students. Most ELs are eventually reclassified and receive instruction within a…

The Migration Policy Institute has produced a set of fact sheets providing an overview of key characteristics of the foreign-born and English Learner (EL) populations in select states. It aims to build understanding of state demographic contexts, how ELs are performing in K-12 schools, and the basics of state policies for EL education under the…

With the 2015 passage of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA), the oversight of language policy in U.S. schools shifted from federal to state governance. Although the education of students officially designated as English learners (ELs) has historically been grounded in federal law, we argue that ELs' educational experiences are also…

These are the appendixes for the report, "English Proficiency and the Pandemic: How Texas English Learner Students Fared during the COVID-19 Pandemic. REL 2023-144." This study examined levels of English proficiency before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among English learner students in grades 3-12 in Texas. In 2020-2021, nearly…

The Language and Culture Division (LCD) provides accountability with support to districts that serve students participating in Bilingual Multicultural Education Programs (BMEPs) so that all participating students achieve the program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and administrative code, which are: (1) students become bilingual and…

Global migration has led to increasing numbers of children encountering schools as newcomers in their new countries. Statistics reveal that large groups of migrant children tend to perform poorly academically; thus, education for newcomers has become an urgent issue for host countries. The aim of this study is to explore how Norwegian schools…

Determining whether an English learner with significant cognitive disabilities should participate in an alternate English language proficiency (alt-ELP) assessment is a challenge for Individualized Education Program teams. Although some states provide guidelines for making the decision, many do not. The purpose of this resource is to provide…

Schools in the United States serve a linguistically diverse population of students. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 9.1 percent of public school students in the United States were English learners (ELs) in 2014-2015. These are students who meet the federal definition of English learners, referred to in the Individuals with…

Multilingual learners (MLs) are students whose primary language is not English and are eligible for English language development services through the Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program (TBIP). Eligible MLs receive TBIP services until they become proficient in English. During the 2022-23 school year, 149,357 students were identified as…

This article maintains that in spite of their seeming progress, Mexican-origin students in the US continue to face barriers that are typical of the complex challenges endured in public schools by minoritized and racialised peoples in the American context. It begins with a brief overview of the current-day demographics of the Mexican-origin…

The purpose of this report is to propose a theory of action for the development of an alternate English language proficiency assessment (AELPA) system to support the integrated instruction and assessment for English learners with significant cognitive disabilities (ELSCDs). This theory of action examines the purposes of an ELP assessment system…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has ushered in an era of renewed focus on English Learners (ELs) in states' accountability systems. The new law not only emphasizes the academic achievement and growth of ELs alongside their peers, but it also demands that states prioritize English language acquisition and proficiency for ELs. Under the No…