English Learners are the fastest growing student population in Massachusetts. While total student enrollment has dropped since 2000, the number of EL students has almost doubled to over 90,204 students, or 9.5% of the student population. 90% of school districts have at least one EL student, 19% of districts have 100 or more ELs.
This remarkable growth reflects Massachusetts’ increasingly diverse communities and the global interconnectedness of our world. In fall 2021, Massachusetts was among 13 states where English learners represented 10.0 percent or more of public-school students, placing the Commonwealth alongside states like California, Texas, and Nevada in serving substantial multilingual populations.
What makes this even more significant is that 18.5% of Massachusetts students already speak a first language other than English, representing an incredible linguistic asset that our schools have the opportunity to nurture and develop.