In 24 states and the District of Columbia, dual-language learners comprise more than 20 percent of children ages 8 and younger. But only 17 states provide recruitment and enrollment materials for families in languages other than English, finds a survey by the Migration Policy Institute.
In analysis of 50 states and the District of Columbia, the institute found that 43 of them and the district offer publicly funded preschool programs, but only about half track dual-language-learner enrollment and only a third collect data on the home students’ languages. The top five home languages fordual-language learners are: Spanish, which represents 60 percent; Chinese, at 3.3 percent; and Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic, at 2 percent each.
