Fast Facts: English learners (96)

English learners

Question:
Do you have information on English learners?

Response:

Students who are identified as English learners (ELs) can participate in language assistance programs to help ensure that they attain English proficiency and meet the academic content and achievement standards expected of all students. This Fast Fact first looks at the number and percentage of ELs in kindergarten and higher grades over time.¹ Data on ELs include students with a current EL identification but not students who were formerly identified as ELs but no longer are. For more information on the educational outcomes of ELs, see Condition of Education indicators Reading Performance, Mathematics Performance, and High School Graduation Rates.

The percentage of public school students in the United States² who were ELs increased overall between fall 2011 (9.4 percent, or 4.6 million students) and fall 2021 (10.6 percent, or 5.3 million students). However, this upward trend was disrupted between fall 2019 and fall 2020�during the first school year of the coronavirus pandemic�when EL enrollment fell from 5.1 million to 5.0 million students (although the percentage of public school students who were ELs rounded to 10.1 percent in both years).³

In fall 2021, ELs represented 10.0 percent or more of public school students in 13 states�more than half of which were located in the West�and in the District of Columbia. These states were Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington. The states with the highest percentages of ELs were

Texas (20.2 percent);
California (18.9 percent); and
New Mexico (18.8 percent).

An additional 18 states identified at least 6.0 but less than 10.0 percent of their students as ELs, and 14 states identified at least 3.0 but less than 6.0 percent of their students as ELs. The percentage of students who were ELs was less than 3.0 percent in 5 states:

New Hampshire (2.8 percent)
Wyoming (2.7 percent)
Montana (2.4 percent)
Vermont (2.0 percent)
West Virginia (0.8 percent)

The percentage of public school students who were ELs was higher in fall 2021 than in fall 2011 in 38 states and the District of Columbia and lower in the remaining 12 states. From fall 2011 to fall 2021, the largest positive percentage point change occurred in Rhode Island (6.9 percentage points higher in 2021), and the largest negative percentage point change occurred in Nevada (4.3 percentage points lower in 2021).

Data on the enrollment of ELs were also available for Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools and Puerto Rico.⁴ In fall 2021, ELs accounted for 12.9 percent of the total enrollment in BIE schools and 0.3 percent in Puerto Rico. The percentage of public school students in Puerto Rico who were ELs was lower in fall 2021 (0.3 percent) than in fall 2011 (0.7 percent).⁵

In general, a higher percentage of public school students in lower grades than of those in upper grades were ELs in fall 2021. For example, 14.7 percent of kindergarteners were ELs, compared with 10.5 percent of 6th-graders, 9.0 percent of 8th-graders, and 6.1 percent of 12th-graders. This is consistent with the expected pattern if students eventually attain English language proficiency and are reclassified as non-ELs.

Spanish was the most commonly reported home language of EL public school students in fall 2021 (4.0 million students), representing 76.4 percent of all ELs and 8.4 percent of all public school students. Arabic was the second most commonly reported home language (130,900 students). English was the third most commonly reported home language (116,800 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. The next most commonly reported home languages were Chinese (95,600 students), Vietnamese (75,100 students), Portuguese (50,200 students), Russian (39,400 students), Haitian (31,100 students), Hmong (30,200 students), and Urdu (26,600 students).

In fall 2021, some 93.1 percent of ELs (or 4.9 million students) received services in English language instruction educational programs (LIEPs) in public elementary and secondary schools.⁶ Although the number of students who received services in LIEPs increased between fall 2011 and fall 2021 (from 4.4 million to 4.9 million students), the percentage of ELs who received services in LIEPs was lower in fall 2021 than in fall 2011 (93.1 vs. 94.5 percent).

¹ For general technical notes related to data analysis, data interpretation, rounding, and other considerations, please refer to the Condition of Education Reader�s Guide.
² Unless otherwise noted, United States includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
³ Total public school enrollment also decreased during the first school year of the pandemic. For more information, see Public School Enrollment.
⁴ Data for the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) include programs designed for Native American students learning and studying Native American languages. Data for Puerto Rico are for students with �limited Spanish proficiency� or Spanish learners (SLs), instead of �English Learners,� as Spanish is the language of instruction in Puerto Rico. However, Title III-A requires that an outcome of such programs be increased English proficiency.
⁵ Data on EL enrollment were not available for Bureau of Indian Education schools in fall 2011.
⁶ Students who are identified as English learners (ELs) can participate in language assistance programs to help ensure that they attain English proficiency and meet the academic content and achievement standards expected of all students.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). English Learners in Public Schools. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf.

Numbers in figure titles reflect original numeration from source Condition of Education indicators.

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