How Are English Learners Doing? The Answers Right Now Are Broad and Incomplete

Villegas: Current data doesn’t account for issues with testing, diversity and chronic absenteeism, among other challenges for this key group of kids.

While the average American student has recovered about one-third of pandemic learning losses in math and about a quarter in reading, many others are still struggling in COVID’s wake. This includes many of the nation’s linguistically diverse students. Representing more than 10% of the U.S. K-12 population, English learners are a significant, and growing, group who continue to grapple with academic performance, inequitable access to opportunities, mental health challenges and chronic disengagement. But because of persistent data gaps, information about English learners’ academic recovery remains incomplete and unclear.