English-language-learner education policies nationwide remain 鈥渄isjointed and inaccessible to local education officials, teachers, and education advocates鈥� more than four years after the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, finds a new Migration Policy Institute report.
Researchers gauged ESSA plans for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, analyzing policies that affect students鈥� English-language-acquisition journey, their academic achievement as a student subgroup, and their inclusion in state accountability systems. It found disparate state timelines for English-learners鈥� progress and dozens of state plans that do little to hold schools responsible for the performance of their English-learners.
鈥淚n terms of academic achievement, more often than not, long-term goals [for ELLs] were purely symbolic because they rarely played a meaningful role in accountability systems,鈥� the report concludes.
