English Learners in NJ Schools Suffered Lack Of Services During COVID

NEW JERSEY — A new report found that English language learners in New Jersey public schools suffered doubly during the pandemic. English learners in the state's public school system were already facing inadequate supports, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced students to miss critical services.

The report was released this month by the NJ Consortium for Immigrant Children, NJ Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/NJ Bilingual Educators, and Education Law Center. The report used a survey of 80 ESL/bilingual educators, administrators and counselors among NJTESOL/NBE’s membership, supplemented with follow-up interviews, as well as listening sessions with parents, caregivers and youth conducted between April and July 2021.

The report reads in part:

"Despite tremendous work on the part of educators, parents, and other caregivers to provide continuity of learning during this time, their efforts were hindered by school districts that fell short of meeting their obligations under New Jersey's Bilingual Education Code - the state regulations governing EL education - before and during the pandemic, and by a lack of sufficient guidance, support, and enforcement from the State, including shortcomings in the Code itself."

The report found that over one-third of educators responded to the survey that a lack of compliance with state regulations for ELs was a “major problem” at their school. A third of respondents also said there were no language accommodations in English-only classes for ELs at their school before the pandemic, while 10 percent said that Google Translate was the primary or sole language accommodation their school offered to their EL students.

Attendance also proved to be a big issue for ELs, 26 percent of respondents said there was no attendance recovery policy at their school, and more reported that their school had failed to communicate their policy to ELs. At some schools, ELs are dropping out in high numbers, with one educator reporting 180 dropouts in her district during the pandemic, the report found.

The report highlighted the importance of services and supports for ELs as many New Jerseyeans are immigrants, descendants of immigrants or ELs themselves.

"Immigrants make up a large and thriving portion of New Jersey's population, and a significant portion of its ELs. Nearly one-quarter of New Jerseyans were born outside the United States, while about one in six residents is a U.S.-born citizen with at least one immigrant parent. The share of school-age children with one or more nonU.S.-born parents is larger in New Jersey (39%) than in the United States overall (26%). Many students, including those who are not ELs, have parents who speak languages other than English," the report reads.

Among the recommendations are:

• Develop an accountability process to make sure every school district complies with the Bilingual Education Code;
• Revise the Code to require and improve language accommodations, mandate professional development for educators, and create a “complaint investigation” system to react to reports of violations;
• Provide culturally appropriate, bilingual, mental health and counseling services to help English learners cope with the effects of the pandemic and other life stressors.

Read the full report here.