One reason why we see an increase in English language learners

An increase in ELL students

In the USA, English language learners (ELLs) come from a diverse population representing multiple countries around the world. The increase in the number of ELLs has shown in most states including smaller states, such as Delaware. It is often said that a higher number of ELLs is a result of an increase in families migrating to the USA.

I argue that higher numbers of ELL's are a reflection of an improvement in identification guidelines. When I compare current identification procedures to my first years as an educator, I remember noticing the lack of guidance and inconsistencies that were in place to identify English language learners. There was a lot of confusion among school districts and staff members within schools. Some schools decided when to assess potential ELLs for language needs while others would play it safe by identifying and assessing students that were new to the country. The lack of guidance and consistency caused a lot of confusion among educators, and as a result, students were often not served or adequately identified. In most schools, educators were unaware of existing regulating laws supporting the proper identification of ELL's and in some cases, they were also unaware of how identification and services benefited English language learners.

It wasn't until a few years into my career that I noticed that schools across the USA began to implement identification procedures. In the state of Delaware, more direct guidance and a state handbook provided schools a breakdown of procedures for identification and a clear mandate for language support services. Part of this requirement came as a result of no child left behind and accountability changes that were being implemented.

Better Guidance for Identification

Guidance to identify and service ELL's looked a bit different in different states. In our state, an ELL handbook was developed and provided to school districts requiring all schools to use a state-mandated home language survey. By this time, some states were already using a similar home language survey that became part of every new student registration, including English only registration. Although there were schools already using a home language not everyone was using it on a regular basis and the survey was rarely shared with the ESL department. The revised home language survey from the department of education contained important questions inquiring about the languages spoken at home. The survey also came with indications that prompted school registration departments to share the home language survey with the ESL department when another language was noted to be spoken at home. I remember seeing our number of ELL's increase once schools began using the home language survey. It was clear to me then that implementing a more consistent identification process in place contributed to a timely identification and more students being served. It wasn’t that the students didn’t exist before these steps were in place, clearly, the lack of guidance and consistency impacted whether or not students were being properly identified.

A higher number of ELL's brought up another conversation. Over identification became the conversation. Some educators often questioned whether or not we were over-identifying students by following such strict guidelines. But it was clear that we needed to find a balance. Most of us knew that many students were missed when we had no procedures in place to appropriately identify and support ELL students. For me, this was enough to continue implementing identification procedures to ensure students were provided ESL services.