The length of time students with limited English skills should spend in English-proficiency programs has become a hotly contested political issue, as well as an academic one. A General Accounting Office report concludes it can take from four to eight years for students to develop the language skills needed to perform on a par with native English-speakers.
| Percentage of students who spent... | |||||
| State |
1 year |
2 years |
3 years |
4 years |
5 years |
| Arizona | 12.0 | 24.0 | 36.0 | 49.0 | 59.0 |
| Florida | 10.0 | 23.0 | 39.0 | 66.0 | 79.0 |
| Illinois | 0.1 | 23.0 | 40.0 | 67.0 | 86.0 |
| New Jersey | 29.0 | 57.0 | 78.0 | 90.0 | * |
| Texas | 10.0 | 21.0 | 37.0 | 57.0 | ** |
| Washington | 17.0 | 36.0 | 57.0 | 77.0 | 87.0 |
NOTES: *Ten percent of New Jersey LEP students who exited a program in the 1998-99 academic year had been enrolled in language-assistance programs for five years or more. The percentage staying in programs five years or less cannot be determined.
**Data based on a five-year study of LEP students in public schools from 1992-93 to 1996-97. The percentage of students staying beyond five years cannot be determined.
SOURCE: U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001.
