"Approximately 1 out of 10 (or nearly 5 million) students in the U.S. have been classified as English Learners. In California, ELs account for nearly a quarter of the public school population. Other states (Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina) report the most significant growth in EL population from 2000 - 2014. And while EL population sizes, policies, program models, and accountability systems vary widely between states and districts, a singular, sobering reality seems to extend across all differences: no matter where they go to school, most ELLs are struggling because they have little or no access to quality instruction tailored to their needs. Consider the following: Only 63 percent of ELs graduate from high school, compared with the overall national rate of 82 percent. In New York State, for example, the overall high school graduation rate is about 78 percent. But for ELs, it's 37 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Of those who do graduate, only 1.4 percent take college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT. Achievement disparities between ELs and their non-EL peers are still significant. In 2016, 32 states reported not having a sufficient number of teachers to address the needs of EL students"--