As Massachusetts schools settle into the fall semester, English learners continue to represent one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing populations in the Commonwealth’s public education system. With nearly 90,000 English learners now comprising approximately 10% of students statewide—and in Boston alone, 32% of all students—this fall brings both encouraging progress and persistent challenges that demand our attention.
Breaking News: Boston Shows Significant Progress on English Proficiency
In early October 2025, Boston Public Schools announced encouraging results from the ACCESS for ELs assessment, a federally mandated test measuring English language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The results demonstrate significant progress across the district, reflecting the impact of BPS’s Inclusive Education Plan and continued investments in expanding learning opportunities for multilingual students.
This positive development offers a glimmer of hope following the sobering 2025 MCAS results released in late September, which showed that achievement gaps persist for English learners, students with disabilities, and students of color, with no student group statewide having recovered to pre-pandemic achievement levels.
Major Expansion of Dual Language Programs
One of the most significant trends this fall is the rapid expansion of bilingual and dual language programming across Massachusetts, particularly in Boston. Mayor Michelle Wu’s State of the Schools address on October 28, 2025 highlighted that the district has created 16 new bilingual programs over the past four years, along with implementing inclusive classrooms so multilingual learners can learn alongside their peers.
A milestone moment came in October 2025 with the opening of the new Sarah Roberts Elementary School in Roslindale. The school welcomed close to 700 students for the 2025-2026 school year and officially launched two strands of the Spanish Dual Language Program in Kindergarten. This $90.9 million investment represents a commitment to creating equitable educational opportunities for Boston’s multilingual communities.
Boston now offers dual language programs in multiple languages including Spanish/English at various elementary schools and one high school, Haitian Creole/English at Mattahunt Elementary, American Sign Language/English at Horace Mann School for the Deaf, and Vietnamese/English at Âu Cơ Preschool and Mather Elementary School.
The Stark Reality: Achievement Gaps Persist
Despite these promising programmatic expansions, the 2025 MCAS results paint a sobering picture. State Commissioner Pedro Martinez confirmed that no single statewide student group has bounced back to pre-pandemic achievement levels, with achievement gaps persisting specifically for students of color, students with disabilities, and English learners.
For 10th-grade English learners, the data showed declines in English language arts scores compared to the previous year, though math results remained relatively stable. This pattern highlights the ongoing struggle to help multilingual students catch up academically while simultaneously developing English proficiency.
Alarming Trends in Post-Secondary Education
Perhaps most concerning is the trajectory for English learners beyond high school. Between 2019 and 2020, college attendance for English learners dropped about 18 percentage points—the largest drop of any student group. This downward trend has continued, with attendance rates falling to just 29.5% in 2023, representing a total decrease of 26.8% since 2015—the largest decline recorded for any student group.
English learners and Hispanic or Latino students have been among those most affected by steep drops in community college attendance, experiencing declines greater than the average 5.8 percentage point drop since 2019.
These statistics underscore a critical gap between K-12 interventions and post-secondary success for multilingual students.