ESL suffering from pandemic

School districts were reporting in June that half or more of ESL students were not showing up for online instruction.

The challenge of ESL needs is huge. Five million K – 12 students receive ESL instruction. The number of states in which ESL students account for at least 5% of the student body rose from 19 in 2001-2002 to 34 states in 2017-2018.

Minnesota students speak 311 languages other than English. 22% of school districts serve student populations that speak ten or more languages, and 5% serve students speaking 50 languages or more.

Linguistic isolation: As of 2018, 18% of children of immigrants were living in families where all members of the household over the age of 14 were limited English proficient.

Poor internet connection: According to one analysis of 2018 Census data, 17 million U.S. children live in homes without internet subscriptions, and 7 million have no access to computers or tablets. Nearly one-third of Latino families with children do not have high-speed
internet, and 17% lack computer access.

From the Migration Policy Institute

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *