English learner (EL) students are the fastest-growing group in U.S. schools. Of the nation’s public school students, some 5 million—nearly 1 in 10—speak a language other than English at home. Although most EL students live in states such as California, Florida, and Texas, 5 to 10 percent of students in each state that REL Midwest serves are categorized as English learners.
We rounded up resources from across the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Program to help educators, district staff, and policymakers support EL students.
REL research alliances
The REL Program supports EL students through two regional research alliances.
- REL Northeast and Island’s Connecticut English Learners Research Partnership is providing training on data-driven implementation of tiered interventions with EL students.
- The REL Southwest English Learners Research Alliance, a partnership with school districts and universities in New Mexico, is studying academic trajectories and risk factors for EL students, including gifted EL students.
Resources for school leaders and teachers
- If your school district has an emerging EL community, see REL Appalachia’s report on preparing to serve EL students and REL Northwest’s resource on selecting the right EL learning program. [135 KB ]
- Teaching EL students requires a special set of strategies:
- A REL West video explores the challenges for EL students in meeting academic standards and provides examples of classroom scaffolding procedures and routines to help.
- A series of 23 videos from REL Southwest highlights the recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School and shows teachers modeling the practices in real-life classrooms at three grade levels. A companion facilitator’s guide assists professional learning communities in applying the strategies [7,605 KB ].
- The REL Southwest English Learners Research Partnership hosted an event on promising and effective practices for English language development.
EL students and academic achievement
- A new report from REL Midwest examines the student and school characteristics associated with improved academic achievement of EL students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
- Learn about the graduation outcomes of ELs in New York City in this REL Northeast and Islands report and about high school graduation rates of students across EL subgroups in this REL West report.
- This REL Northeast and Islands infographic illustrates that how we count EL students matters [822 KB ] when determining graduation outcomes
- If you’re interested in using computer-adaptive assessments to monitor the progress of EL students, check out this REL Southwest study.
Developing English proficiency
- Interested in how initial Spanish proficiency relates to English language development among Spanish-speaking EL students? Check out this REL Southwest report and the related video.
- This REL Northwest report discusses how long it took EL students in the Washington Road Map district to develop English proficiency. REL Southwest has a similar report and related video about the time to English proficiency for EL students in Texas.
Supporting EL students with special circumstances
- This REL Northwest report describes advanced course enrollment and performance among EL students in Washington State.
- A REL West report and a REL Northeast and Islands infographic [657 KB ] provide insights for policymakers interested in developing procedures for identifying, assessing, and placing EL students who may have learning disabilities.
- REL Northeast and Islands explains how to implement response to intervention, or scientific research-based interventions, with EL students through this three-part training series.
- This REL Northwest report examines whether two commonly used early warning indicators are accurate predictors of dropout among EL students
Ask A REL
Did you know that the REL Program offers a free reference desk service? The following are some questions we’ve received related to EL students and the references we provided—and we encourage you to submit your own questions.
- Do EL students who may have lower English proficiency have better outcomes when they participate in newcomer programs rather than in EL mainstream programs?
- What does the research say about how to engage the families of EL students in preschool and kindergarten [541 KB ], including dual language learners?
- What does the research say about practices and programs that support the development of K–12 EL students’ English language proficiency and academic content proficiency?
Find What Works
Visit the What Works Clearinghouse website to find out more about interventions for EL students and to download the Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School educator’s practice guide.
