This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Lau v. Nichols, which affirmed English Learners’ Constitutional right to receive an equal education. In honor of this milestone, Regional Comprehensive Centers 2, 13, and 15’s special blog series reports on emerging state and district systemic trends to improve education for English Learners, arising from the Centers’ work with state and local educational agencies and research partners. The series highlights relevant research and systemic implementation tools now widely available, and describes how focusing on English Learners in K–12 decisions may benefit all students.

Nearly every role played today throughout K–12 systems—from classrooms to state educational agencies coast-to-coast—in some way serves children who are learning to read, write, speak, and think in multiple languages.

That is because students learning English or other additional languages in the U.S. are among the fastest-growing student populations in the country. More than three-quarters of public schools now serve Multilingual-English Learner students. One out of every four students will be an English Learner as soon as next year.

And as language acquisition brings with it additional skills and brain development, research shows that multilingual individuals have advantages over monolinguals—a fact that education systems in many other countries have long planned schooling around.

For example, people who speak multiple languages

  • are more likely to have job opportunities as adults,
  • are more likely to enjoy economic benefits in general,
  • are better able to understand math concepts,
  • are better able to store things in memory,
  • find the skill helps them make decisions, and
  • find the skill helps them think through problems.

Moreover, children who are bilingual may also be better at switching between tasks than their monolingual peers. In one study, more than 100 children were asked to sort images of either colors or animals on a computer. The children who spoke a second language were better at switching between the two categories, which indicated multitasking ability, researchers concluded.

Recognizing the Promise of All Language Learners

The need to shift this paradigm, so that educators and systems recognize that all language learners have great potential and promise, is among the reasons the Regional Education Laboratory West (REL West) recently created An Asset-Based Approach to Multilingual Learner Terminology.

The need to shift from a “deficit” mentality to an “asset-based” perspective is, experts report, the first step. And providing multilingual learners with access to quality learning opportunities that help them unlock their highest potential also requires deeply unpacking significant post-pandemic challenges, new data shows.

As state educational agencies nationwide work to meet the spirit and requirements of Lau, Regional Comprehensive Centers 2, 13, and 15 are this summer reporting on the following research- and evidence-based trends arising across the states and partners we work with—systemic reforms intended to prepare millions more to be multilingual, multiliterate, and academically successful.

Current and Upcoming Posts in This Special Series

  1. Expert Molly Faulkner-Bond on A Logic Model for Systemic English Learner Reform
  2. A Coherent Vision in California, Rhode Island, Connecticut:  State-Level Multilingual Learner Frameworks
  3. Longitudinal Levers for English Learners (Part I): Dual Language, Extra Instructional Time, Counselors, Teacher Preparation
  4. Longitudinal Levers for English Learners (Part II): California Launches New Tool to Guide EL Reclassification Based on Language Use in the Classroom
  5. Longitudinal Levers for English Learners (Part III): New Mexico Adopts English Learner Disability Identification Guide
  6. Two Key Ways States Can Begin to Re-Orient K–12 Systems to Provide Students Essential Oral Opportunities to Learn

The contents of this post were developed by the Region 2, 13, and 15 Comprehensive Centers. These centers are funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, the contents of this post do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.