According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the ESOl population in 2020 for public schools was 10.3 percent nationwide. With Texas and California populations for ESOL students substantially higher. Texas 20.1 percent and California 17.7 percent. The National Education Association (NEA) predicts that 20% of all students will be English Language Learners by 2025. That is one out of every four students in all classrooms.

So, imagine these students are all together in a classroom of native English Speakers. This presents quite a challenge to the teacher, who may I add is trying to get through a curriculum. Which usually means preparing for a standardized assessment. ESOL students are pulled multiple times to take the WIDA test in Virginia. The WIDA test has 4 parts. Scores are level based and range from level 1, beginning to level 6. There are 41 States that use this named test.

Is there a potentially better way to prepare ESOl students for a typical school experience? Perhaps requiring a level of English proficiency prior to placement in a general classroom would benefit all students. School systems could consider programs in total language emersion with a concentration on mastering the language prior to sending ESOL level 1, 2, 3 students off to school. Where unfortunately the dropout rate for this group consistently hovers at 25%.