English Learners

Federal law defines English learner (EL) eligibility differently for Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous, students, allowing for broader entry into the EL category, along with its accompanying resources and services.

This Fact Sheet highlights English learner students in secondary schools who are career and technical education participants (received at least one CTE credit in that year) and concentrators (received three credits within a career cluster during high school).

Nationally, there are 213,832 English learner (EL) students who identify as Black,1 making up 4% of all ELs in public schools. This community brings a wealth of diverse languages, countries of origin, and cultural identities to communities across all 50 U.S. states.

This two-part podcast from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is hosted by Beatriz Ceja, Deputy Assistant Secretary at OELA, and addresses topics associated with English learners’ access to postsecondary education.