California’s K–12 education system enrolls a large number of multilingual learners acquiring English. Over the past two decades, the state has implemented a significant number of policy reforms intended to support the educational progress of all students, including multilingual learners of English (MLE). The state is thus at an important juncture to take stock of progress, understand remaining challenges, plan for the future, and define the work yet to be done. This Getting Down to Facts research report addresses the questions:
- Who are California’s MLE? How has the composition of the population changed over time?
- What policy reforms occurred in the last two decades? What changes in performance occurred for California’s MLE during this time period?
- Who are long-term English learners? What school characteristics are associated with greater proportions of LTEL among the MLE population?
- What conditions and resources are associated with districts that are doing exceptionally well in supporting the achievement performance of K–8 current and former MLE?
- What issues do these findings identify for future research?
- What policy considerations arise from these findings?
In this report, we synthesize findings from recent studies to provide an overview of progress in California towards supporting MLE. First, we provide an overview of California’s policy vision and history related to schooling for MLE. We then describe who California’s MLE are, including their diversity. Second, we summarize research examining progress among students who were ever classified as an English learner, both prior to and following the policy reforms (Novicoff et al., 2024). Third, we describe the characteristics and contexts of students whose progress in English language learning has been slower and who have been designated as long-term English learners (LTEL) (Price et al., 2024). Fourth, we look at California’s “positive outliers” districts whose current and former multilingual learners of English are academically growing at greater than predicted rates (Price & Burns, 2026). We review the districts’ characteristics and the resources associated with their students’ successes. Finally, we summarize these findings and propose policy recommendations for key actors in the state.
The “Ever-EL” Approach to Studying Multilingual Learners of English
Data reports on learning outcomes for multilingual learners of English typically show gaps with their English-fluent peers. Statewide data show, for example, that the Class of 2023 graduated 73% of students classified as English learners compared to 89% of the rest of the students who are not classified as an English learner (California Department of Education [CDE], n.d.-a). When the comparison group changes to include all currently or formerly classified EL students compared to those students never classified, then the graduation rate is 86% (ever-EL) to 85% (never-EL) (Price et al., 2024). In addition, data from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) show a gap of 30 percentage points between students classified as English learners and their peers in the proportion of students meeting or achieving state standards in math (California Department of Education [CDE], n.d.-b). Similar achievement gaps are sustained over time.
However, these static snapshots can be misleading as they fail to capture the dynamic nature of multilingual learning and who “counts” as a multilingual learner of English (Valdes & Castrechini, 2026). Each year, many students who develop a higher level of competency—thus achieving a measure of academic success—are reclassified as fluent English proficient (RFEP) and are thus removed from the pool of students classified as English learners. (See Figure 1.) Likewise, many new students become classified as English learners and join the pool. Thus, average test scores for students currently classified as English learners can change due to different students in the pool. Moreover, the academic successes of the recently reclassified fluent students are not considered in the average scores. State data show that RFEP students on average achieve at higher rates than their English Only counterparts (CDE, n.d.-b).
