English Learners Report Roundup

Research Report: English-Language Learners

By Mary Ann Zehr — September 23, 2008 1 min read
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From 1994 to 2006, Nevada’s enrollment of English-language learners grew by 208 percent, compared with an increase of 61 percent nationwide, says a report released by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute.

Yet the state provides no extra funds for schools to educate ELLs beyond what it provides for regular students, according to the report.

It finds that the state ranks 50th nationally in the number of high school graduates who enroll in college and has the lowest high school graduation rate in the nation.

The report’s authors, Aaron Terrazas and Michael Fix, write that it’s “troubling” that in Nevada “almost half of ELLs in secondary schools are second- and third-generation natives who we assume have been educated in U.S. schools.”

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A version of this article appeared in the September 24, 2008 edition of Education Week

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