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Opportunities and Challenges for Applied Demography in the 21st Century pp 83–98Cite as

English Language Learners: An Exercise in Applied Demography

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Part of the book series: Applied Demography Series ((ADS,volume 2))

Abstract

Demography and social policy have never been strange bedfellows. Size, distribution, and population change greatly impact societal institutions and social issues. The new settlement patterns among immigrants, especially Hispanics, have had such effects. Specifically, it has meant that English Language Learner (ELL) students are now spread across greater geographic areas of the United States (Capps et al. 2005; Bartel 1989). While there are many challenges facing America’s educational systems – e.g., school reform, the No Child Left Behind Act, student performance, the achievement gap, and currently the Obama Administration’s “Race to the Top” program, to name just a few-one set of challenges is not as well documented. This particular challenge is brought about by students whose primary language is not English, or English Language Learners (ELL).

The views expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of the National Education Association

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Verdugo and Flores (2007).

  2. 2.

    For example, Espinosa (2005) finds that 39% of LEP students are on free/reduced lunch programs. Though the SES-Attainment relationship is well-known, a recent study suggests that such a relationship is tempered by the community in which one resides (Starkey 2009).

  3. 3.

    Note that this figure is larger than the total used in our paper. The difference is due to our limiting the analysis to K-12 public regular schools and to missing data.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Education Association, Washington, DC, USA

    Richard R. Verdugo

Authors
  1. Richard R. Verdugo
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Correspondence to Richard R. Verdugo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Dept of Demography, University of Texas, San Antonio, West Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard 501, San Antonio, 78207, Texas, USA

    Nazrul Hoque

  2. Dept. Sociology, University of California Riverside, Watkins Hall 1223, Riverside, 92521, California, USA

    David A. Swanson

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Verdugo, R.R. (2012). English Language Learners: An Exercise in Applied Demography. In: Hoque, N., Swanson, D. (eds) Opportunities and Challenges for Applied Demography in the 21st Century. Applied Demography Series, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2297-2_6

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