Introduction

When schools abruptly shut down in the U.S. in March 2020, students and families were given little guidance and information about what would come next. For students learning English, the leap to remote learning exacerbated existing inequities in access to digital resources and technology, and resulted in limited opportunities for English language instruction and services. Early reports painted a bleak picture, with school systems reporting higher rates of course failure and disengagement from online learning among English learners (ELs).¹ States offered varying guidance about how to meet the needs of ELs and much of the guidance came late, forcing teachers and schools to seek resources and design solutions on their own.²

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the picture of ELs’ learning experiences and academic outcomes is starting to emerge. States such as California and Tennessee reported declines in ELs’ proficiency rates in mathematics and English language arts and lower rates of English proficiency overall.³ A national study by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research examining ELs’ performance on the WIDA ACCESS, a standardized exam that assesses English language proficiency, found lower average rates of English proficiency compared to prior years.⁴ The study, which looked at the past three school years (2019–2021),⁵ also found declines in average growth, particularly in the area of speaking. These data come with caveats, most notably that large numbers of ELs did not take these exams in 2021 and that impacts were uneven across grade levels. Though these data offer a starting point for identifying the impact the pandemic had on language development, these numbers fail to capture ELs’ learning conditions and experiences and the ways in which school systems adapted and responded to meet their needs throughout the pandemic.

To learn more about ELs’ educational experiences with remote learning and with their return to school, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 EL advocates, experts, and researchers in the U.S. between October and December 2021. We sought to learn about how different aspects of education were impacted including screening, identification and reclassification, assessment, instruction, engagement and digital access, and funding. Our conversations reveal challenges and bright spots and help answer lingering questions about key aspects of ELs’ education during the pandemic. They also underscore the continued need for states and school systems to integrate the needs of English learners in program design rather than as an add-on to ensure that they receive equitable access and opportunity.