Many suburban school districts are unequipped to handle influxes of English-language learners and students who are refugees, a new report argues.
Exponential growth in English-learner enrollment in the suburbs surrounding Boston, Seattle, and Minnesota’s Twin Cities has led to challenges in welcoming children of families fleeing war and famine and accommodating students who speak languages other than Spanish, according to the report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington.
The report called for districts to track student population trends in ethnicity, language, income, and location, and assess their workforce in light of changing student populations. It also urged collaboration between urban and suburban districts to analyze needs and share strategies on how to adapt without “greatly increasing the size and cost of central office bureaucracies.”
