The Growing Need for Bilingual Teachers in India Over the Past 20 Years
Recently, we talked about some of the reasons why many teachers may be hesitant to pursue a career as a bilingual educator, despite the high demand for teachers who can teach English to students who are still learning the language.
The demand for bilingual teachers has become more urgent as the immigrant population in the United States continues to grow. There have been heated debates over immigration policies, leading to the governor of Texas transporting newly arrived migrants from the Mexican border to cities like New York, Chicago, and Denver. All three metro areas have reported a shortage of bilingual teachers.
According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, more than one-fifth of school districts struggled to fill bilingual education or English as a second language roles back in 2011-12. This number increased to nearly one-third of districts during the 2020-21 school year.
A Look at the Changing Landscape of English Learners in Public Schools
In the year 2000, the concentration of English learners was highest in the Southwest and Western states, with nearly 1 in 4 California students classified as English learners. However, by 2020, the demographic had shifted away from just border states and major cities. Delaware saw the largest increase in its proportion of English learners, growing from 1.8 percent to 10.7 percent over the 20-year period.
Rhode Island also saw significant growth, with 12.2 percent of students classified as English learners in 2020. The capital city of Providence had one-third of its students classified as English learners, speaking a total of 54 different languages at home.
Even the Midwest and Pacific Northwest have seen an increase in English learners over the past two decades. While some states may have experienced more modest growth, nearly all states in the U.S. saw an increase in the English learner population.
Although California, Arizona, and New Mexico saw a decrease in the percentage of English learners, they still serve a substantial number of students. California alone had over 1 million English learners enrolled in schools in 2020, compared to more than 1.4 million in 2000.
Texas, on the other hand, was the only border state to see an increase in English learners, with the population reaching one-fifth of public school students in 2020. This amounted to 1 million English learners, up from approximately 570,000 two decades earlier.
The graph below provides a visual representation of the changing landscape of English learners in the United States over the past 20 years.
(Source: National Center for Education Statistics)
