#english-learners

#english-learners

These numbers look stark, but in context they reveal far more about the conditions California children are growing up in than the quality of classroom instruction. California educates a disproportionate share of children experiencing housing insecurity. A 2024 analysis found that 4% of California students were homeless, with some counties reaching 16%. The California Department of Education reports 230,443 homeless students statewide, a 26% increase over five years that mirrors broader trends in affordability, overcrowding and displacement.

Between Monday and Wednesday last week, students learning English averaged about 700 absences each day. On Thursday, the day agents began arriving at Coast Guard Island in the Oakland Estuary, absences spiked to more than 1,100, said Nicole Knight, executive director of the English Language Learner and Multilingual Achievement office that supports immigrant and newcomer families. For newcomer students, Monday through Wednesday saw about 200 daily absences, while on Thursday they shot up to 427, Knight said.

More than their younger siblings may do, high school students who came to this country as teenagers struggle while learning English in school. For one, the younger brain learns language more quickly than the teen brain does. The concepts and material high schoolers face in class are more complex and difficult than the ideas taught in elementary school. And teens study more subjects at a faster pace than do younger kids.