English Learners in K-12 Education by State
English Learners in K-12 Education by State
This map and ranked bar chart display the number of English Learners (ELs) enrolled in a kindergarten through a 12th grade class, their share of the student population in Fall 2020, and the number and share of children in immigrant families in 2021. In the fall of 2020, more than 4.9 million ELs were enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, representing 10 percent of total K-12 student enrollment. Use the menu to rank states by one of these indicators or hover over a state to display all data.
1) Refers to children who reside with at least one immigrant parent. The term "immigrants" (or "foreign born") refers to people residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. This population includes naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs), certain legal nonimmigrants (e.g., persons on student or work visas), those admitted under refugee or asylee status, and persons illegally residing in the United States. Immigrant families are defined as families with at least one immigrant parent. Click here to view the number and share of children of immigrants by state and age groups (0-18, 0-5, 6-17) between 1990 and 2021.
2) The U.S. Department of Education defines English Language Learners (ELLs) as follows: "A [Limited English Proficient] student, or English language learner (ELL) is defined as an individual who was not born in the United States or whose native language is a language other than English; or who comes from an environment where a language other than English is dominant; or who is an American Indian or Alaska Native and who comes from an environment where a language other than English has had a significant impact on his or her level of English language proficiency. States utilize the results of a "screener"/placement English language proficiency assessment to identify a child as LEP/ELL and to place him/her in a language instruction educational program." Data displayed above represent counts of all ELL students, regardless of their participation in ELL programs; prekindergarten ELL students were not included in the original data.
3) SY refers to school year.
Migration Policy Institute tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2021 American Community Survey (for data on children in immigrant families) and National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 204.20. English learner (EL) students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by state: Selected years, fall 2000 through fall 2020," https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_204.20.asp.