Suggests that students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) are more likely to attend schools with low standardized math test scores which cannot solely be attributed to the ELL population. Over 70 percent of the nation’s ELL student population is educated in five states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Arizona. Many of the schools that ELL students attend have similar characteristics: central city location, high student-teacher ratios, high student enrollment, Title I funding designation, and high levels of poverty in the community. Other major student groups within these poor performing schools also exhibit low standardized test scores. When compared to schools with a minimum number of white students, the gap between scores of ELL students and the rest of the student population was narrower. Even a comparison with other minorities yields the same results. Black eighth grade students in Texas had a 44 percent rate of meeting or exceeding math proficiency requirements while theELL population had a 22 percent rate of math proficiency.
