Ileana Najarro is a reporter for Education Week covering race and opportunity in schools across the country. She previously wrote for the Tampa Bay Times and the Houston Chronicle.
Eighth graders work on math problems in a dual language class taught primarily in English at Joseph A. Browne Middle School in Chelsea, Mass. on Sept. 15, 2026. Many students in the school are English learners. When students are English learners with disabilities, their language development teachers should be involved in IEP meetings, according to experts.
Educators of English learners attend a session at the 2026 WIDA conference in St. Louis, Mo., on Sept. 17, 2026. Several sessions this year focused on how language instruction can work in mainstream classrooms.
A student wipes his face while his mother takes a photo of him with a sign on the first day of school at Betsy Ross Elementary School in Anaheim, Calif., on Aug. 6, 2026. English learners in California will only need to meet one criterion to reclassify this school year.
Teachers working with English learners attend informative sessions about instruction at the WIDA national conference in St. Louis, Mo., on Sept. 17, 2026. One session addressed how all teachers can teach language through math class.
Eighth graders work on math problems in a dual language class taught primarily in English at Joseph A. Browne Middle School in Chelsea, Mass. on Sept. 15, 2026. About a third of the students at the middle school are classified as English learners.
Laura Eady, a 3rd grade general education teacher (left), and Lisa Maddox, an English-learner teacher, prepare lessons together for students at Mt. View Elementary School in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 2, 2026.
TahSoGhay Collah, right, teaches a 3rd grade English learners class in Worthington, Minn., on Oct. 22, 2024. Researchers seeking federal grant funding to train more teachers to work with English learners requested letters of support from state leaders to submit competitive applications this year.
English teacher Jessica Gallo assists students during a writing exercise in her classroom at Dekaney High School in Houston, on Sept. 16, 2025. Newcomer immigrant students in high school with low English-proficiency face multiple barriers schools can address.
Students learn Arabic words while playing with bilingual flash cards during Modern Arabic 1 class at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, Ill., on April 17, 2026. Many bilingual education programs do not extend beyond elementary school to secondary grades, a new analysis shows.
Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty
Spanish dictionaries are lined up on the bookshelf of a fourth-grade classroom on Oct. 19, 2023, at Patterson Elementary School in Houston. A new report cites strong demand among Americans for more world language classes in schools.
Student Elias Albert gets help from instructor Nurit Foster, who is using artificial intelligence in her multilingual learners class at Hillside Middle School in Northville, Mich., on Jan. 13, 2025. Statewide assessments in students' native languages are another accommodation states have on hand to help English learners.
Teacher Monica Alvarado, left, leads activities with staff in the infant class at Educare Los Angeles at Long Beach, a very high-quality child care center in Long Beach on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 in Long Beach, Calif. Head Start programs for early childhood education will no longer promote bilingualism under a proposed rule change.
Ron Gochez, a history teacher and member of Union del Barrio, looks for ICE activity during a patrol on the first day of school around Maya Angelou High School on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, Calif. A new report found K-12 educators took on more work this past school year to care for immigrant students.
Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
English learner students work on a reading assignment on Nov. 10, 2022, in Mason City, Iowa. Reclassification criteria can affect older English learners' access to advanced coursework.
Second-grade teacher Eric Langsev helps a student with a reading lesson at Global Academy in New Brighton, Minn. on Nov. 10, 2025. More than half of the students there are English learners, and many are new to the United States. Not all states offer tests in newcomers' home languages.
Anthony Soufflé/The Minnesota Star Tribune via TNS
Albertville City Schools has one of the state's largest populations of immigrant students on June 11, 2025 in Albertville, located in northeast Alabama. More than a third of students are English learners. Not all states offer assessments in English learners' native languages.
English learners work through disecting a speech at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Antioch, Tenn. on Dec. 3, 2025. National professional development grants focus on developing more teachers to work with these students.
Third-grade students learn about identifying story elements as part of Crestwood Elementary School's Dual Language Program in August 2023 in Tampa, Fla. Due to silos in the teaching profession, English learners with disabilities may miss out on language services such as dual language programs in favor of special education programming.
Douglas R. Clifford/Zuma Press/Tampa Bay Times via TNS