Opinion: How Are English Learners Doing? The Answers Right Now Are Broad and Incomplete

While the average American student has recovered about one-third of pandemic learning losses in math and about a quarter in reading, many others are still struggling in COVID’s wake. This includes many of the nation’s linguistically diverse students. Representing more than 10% of the U.S. K-12 population, English learners are a significant, and growing, group who continue to grapple with academic performance, inequitable access to opportunities, mental health challenges and chronic disengagement. But because of persistent data gaps, information about English learners’ academic recovery remains incomplete and unclear.

The 2024 State of the American Student report , published by the Center on Reinventing Public Education, echoed findings from our 2022 New America report : English learners were disproportionately impacted — often negatively — by the remote learning caused by pandemic school closures. The CRPE report also underscores the troubling reality that English learners are experiencing a much slower, if not stalled, recovery. And through CRPE’s focus on academic recovery as measured and defined by standardized assessments, the report illuminates the incomplete picture researchers and the general public have of English learner outcomes and learning opportunities.

Using standard English language arts assessment data, CRPE’s report shows proficiency rates ranging from a dismal 1% to 9% for students identified as English learners in four major urban districts. And while these numbers are alarming, they do not tell the whole story.

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First, the use of standardized assessments to measure English learners’ academic performance is fraught with limitations , and data they produce should be interpreted with caution. As the report astutely mentions, English learner status is supposed to be temporary, and the composition of this subgroup changes annually as young students gain and shed the label. This revolving door constantly weeds out high scorers because, as language proficiency grows, these students not only do better on exams , but get closer to leaving the group. And, as the report states, “longitudinal data generally does not include categories for students who were once classified as, but no longer are, English learners.” Thus, it is difficult to make assumptions about the potential and capabilities of linguistically diverse students on the whole.

Secondly, the English learner subgroup used in data reporting and accountability treats all these students as if they are the same, with identical needs, backgrounds and academic capabilities. In reality, English learners are a diverse population. Some are U.S.-born, while others may have just arrived from abroad. Some may have been recently identified, while others may be considered long-term English learners because they have not been reclassified after a certain number of years — often six or seven. English learners’ needs also vary by age, grade and even language proficiency level. It is unrealistic to expect one data point to capture the wide range of linguistic and academic experiences these students have had. Doing so masks their outcomes and hinders educators from offering targeted and differentiated supports.

Lastly, the academic challenges English learners face are only part of the picture. Their opportunity to learn — a term that shifts the focus from student outcomes to systemic barriers — has also been disproportionately impacted since the pandemic began.

As CRPE noted, chronic absenteeism has been rife among English learners, and staffing challenges have reduced the number of qualified teachers who specialize in bilingual education and/or English as a Second Language. The availability of these educators is a common opportunity to learn measures, and although English learner-specific indicators are unusual, they do exist. For example, a more complete picture of what opportunity to learn looks like for these students could include the number of long-term English learners; participation and successful completion of coursework; and school discipline data, such as expulsion rates and then number and length of in-school and out-of-school suspensions. Recent research by the Migration Policy Institute also explored how certain information about the instructional programs available for English learners could help refine the accountability systems used to monitor their success.

By looking beyond the average student and collecting nuanced data on English learners, state and local leaders can begin to fill in their incomplete and overly broad understanding. The work of pandemic recovery begins by unraveling this subgroup to shine a light on the diversity within it. Doing so is imperative for the long-term academic and personal growth success of English learners in America’s K-12 schools.