Introduction
In recent years, public leaders have increasingly sought to invest in our nation’s youngest learners. Funding for early care and education (ECE) for children ages 0-5 has grown substantially.1 From 2006-2016, state pre-K spending more than doubled nationwide from 3.3 to 7.4 billion, and pre-K enrollment is at an all-time high.2 Federal dollars for Head Start and child care subsidies have also increased in the last decade.3
At the same time, another figure is rising: the number of young children learning English while developing another language at home. In the years before kindergarten, these students are typically referred to as dual language learners (DLLs).4 Nationwide, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) estimates that 23 percent of young children—nearly one in four—are DLLs, regardless of whether they are formally identified as such in early learning programs to receive extra supports.5
Research suggests that high-quality ECE opportunities are particularly impactful for these students.6 ECE offers systematic exposure to English at a key developmental window, even as DLLs benefit from continued development of their home language.7 Studies suggest that initial English proficiency at the point of kindergarten entry allows DLLs to keep pace with non-DLL peers throughout elementary school and that initial native language ability is also linked to English development.8
Because DLLs represent a growing segment of the U.S. population, and because the early years are so foundational to long-term success, it is important that education leaders have clear insights about these students: who and where they are, the services they receive, and how they are progressing.
Several advocates and researchers have drawn attention to the need for better ECE data systems for all children in general.9 As they argue, such information has potential to empower a variety of audiences: policymakers, families, educators, and other community stakeholders. But to be most effective, the leaders designing these data policies should pay particular attention to how they incorporate multilingual children and families, responding to their distinct needs and assets.
At present, there is wide room for improvement in this area. For example, NIEER recently found that only 24 states and Guam track the enrollment of DLL children in state-funded pre-K programs.10 Such glaring information gaps are problematic: without increasing the availability and quality of ECE data on DLLs, state policymakers cannot serve these children in intentional, equitable ways. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education highlighted this reality in a 2016 policy statement. Officials stressed that better DLL data is vital to state leaders’ decision-making in allocating finite resources, developing educators’ competencies, and reaching out to and partnering with families in culturally and linguistically responsive ways.11
How, then, can state leaders build data systems that more fully account for the growing population of DLLs and their distinct needs? This report highlights current practices and proposes how states can better collect and use ECE data in three areas: 1) tracking DLL enrollment, 2) evaluating program quality, and 3) assessing kindergarten readiness. Ultimately, better data across these domains has potential to empower leaders and families, addressing key information gaps to serve DLLs more strategically.
Terminology
This series uses the term “dual language learners” (DLL) to refer to young children ages 0-5 in their homes, communities, or early care and education programs. These students have a native language other than English and are in the process of developing English language proficiency. In the K-12 years, federal law refers to these students as “English learners” (ELs).
Citations
- Emily Parker, Louisa Diffey, and Bruce Atchison, How States Fund Pre-K: A Primer For Policymakers (Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States, 2018), source.
- W. Steven Barnett and Jason T. Hustedt, Improving Public Financing for Early Learning Programs (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2016), 3; W. Steven Barnett, Jason T. Hustedt, Laura E. Hawkinson, and Kenneth B. Robin, 2006 State of Preschool Yearbook (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2006), source; W. Steven Barnett, Allison H. Friedman-Krauss, G.G. Weisenfeld, Michelle Horowitz, Richard Kasmin, James H. Squires, 2016 State of Preschool Yearbook (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2016), source.
- Karen E. Lynch, The Child Care and Development Block Grant: Background and Funding (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2014), 19-20, source; “Head Start Federal Funding and Funded Enrollment History,” Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, Office of Head Start, accessed May 23, 2018, source.
- This series uses the term “dual language learners” (DLL) to refer to young children ages 0-5 in their homes, communities, or early care and education programs. These students have a native language other than English and are in the process of developing English language proficiency. In the K-12 years, federal law refers to these students as “English learners” (ELs).
- Special Report: Dual Language Learners and Preschool Workforce (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2016), 20, source.
- Virginia Buysse, Ellen Peisner-Feinberg, Mariela Páez, Carol Scheffner Hammer, and Meagan Knowles, “Effects of Early Education Programs and Practices on the Development and Learning of Dual Language Learners: A Review of the Literature,” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 29, no. 4 (2014): 765-785, source; William T. Gormley, “The Effects of Oklahoma’s Pre-K Program on Hispanic Children,” Social Science Quarterly 89, no. 4 (2008): 916-936, source.
- Carol Scheffner Hammer, Frank R. Lawrence, and Adele W. Miccio, “Bilingual Children’s Language Abilities and Early Reading Outcomes in Head Start and Kindergarten,” Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 38, no. 3 (2007): 237–248, source.
- Tamara Halle, Elizabeth Hair, Laura Wandner, Michelle McNamara, and Nina Chien, “Predictors and Outcomes of Early vs. Later English Language Proficiency among English Language Learners,” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 27, no. 1 (2012): 1–20, source; Michael J. Kieffer, “Catching up or falling behind? Initial English proficiency, concentrated poverty, and the reading growth of language minority learners in the United States,” Journal of Educational Psychology 100, no. 4: 851-868, source; Brenda Arellano, Feng Liu, Ginger Stoker, and Rachel Slama, Initial Spanish proficiency and English language development among Spanish-speaking English learner students in New Mexico (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest, 2018), source; Hammer, Lawrence, and Miccio, “Bilingual Children’s Language Abilities.”
- Laura Bornfreund and Maggie Severns, Many Missing Pieces: The Difficult Task of Linking Early Childhood Data and School-Based Data Systems (Washington, DC: New America, 2010); Emily Workman, “New Unofficial Guide to the Why and How of State Early Childhood Data Systems,” New America, September 18, 2017, source; The Integration of Early Childhood Data: State Profiles and a Report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016).
- Special Report: Supporting Dual Language Learners in State-Funded Preschool (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2018), source.
- Policy Statement on Supporting the Development of Children Who Are Dual Language Learners in Early Childhood Programs (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016), 15, source.