English learners (ELs) enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by home language, grade, and selected student characteristics: Selected school years, 2011-12 through fall 2021

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Table 204.27.English learners (ELs) enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by home language, grade, and selected student characteristics: Selected school years, 2011-12 through fall 2021
Home language, grade, and selected student characteristic	Number of ELs											Percentage distribution of ELs								Number of ELs as a percent of enrollment¹
Home language, grade, and selected student characteristic	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	Fall 2014	Fall 2015	Fall 2016	Fall 2017	Fall 2018²	Fall 2019	Fall 2020	Fall 2021	Fall 2014	Fall 2015³	Fall 2016	Fall 2017	Fall 2018²	Fall 2019	Fall 2020	Fall 2021	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	Fall 2014	Fall 2015	Fall 2016	Fall 2017	Fall 2018²	Fall 2019	Fall 2020	Fall 2021
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Total	4,635,185	4,850,293	4,929,989	4,813,693	4,854,285	4,949,423	5,010,505	5,024,177	5,115,887	4,963,388	5,263,596	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	9.6	10.0	10.1	9.8	9.9	10.1	10.2	10.2	10.4	10.1	11.0
15 most commonly reported home languages of EL students³
Spanish, Castilian	3,562,860	3,718,047	3,770,816	3,709,828	3,741,066	3,790,949	3,749,314	3,777,926	3,872,153	3,745,460	4,023,289	77.1	77.1	76.6	74.8	75.2	75.7	75.5	76.4	7.4	7.7	7.7	7.6	7.6	7.7	7.6	7.7	7.9	7.8	8.4
Arabic	86,162	97,971	109,170	109,165	114,371	129,386	136,531	135,870	131,554	128,641	130,917	2.3	2.4	2.6	2.7	2.7	2.6	2.6	2.5	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
English⁴	85,246	90,703	91,669	83,230	80,333	70,014	94,910	99,521	105,296	124,917	116,771	1.7	1.7	1.4	1.9	2.0	2.1	2.5	2.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2
Chinese	96,509	104,799	107,825	104,279	101,347	104,147	106,516	102,834	100,085	93,339	95,584	2.2	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.8	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Vietnamese	89,536	92,560	89,705	85,289	81,157	78,732	77,765	76,517	75,558	73,075	75,070	1.8	1.7	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.4	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Portuguese	15,725	17,085	19,142	19,839	23,673	28,214	33,252	37,535	44,771	43,426	50,205	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.9	0.9	1.0	#	#	#	#	#	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Russian	32,225	33,678	33,821	32,493	33,057	34,843	36,809	38,227	39,721	37,159	39,403	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Haitian, Haitian Creole	39,883	38,768	37,371	31,428	30,231	31,608	32,655	32,833	31,504	30,063	31,122	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Hmong	43,845	41,368	39,860	37,412	34,813	33,059	32,174	31,335	30,786	28,719	30,181	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Urdu	22,219	22,590	22,499	22,294	22,879	24,668	25,282	25,513	25,346	25,192	26,567	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	#	#	#	#	#	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Korean	33,704	34,874	32,445	28,530	27,268	26,136	26,531	26,002	25,810	22,816	24,270	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	#	0.1
French	18,849	20,018	20,799	20,275	20,664	22,449	24,052	24,339	24,476	22,383	23,648	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Swahili	6,011	6,391	7,093	7,065	8,480	11,994	16,099	18,362	21,591	21,054	21,833	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Somali	27,861	30,959	34,472	33,712	36,028	38,440	41,264	40,115	21,635	20,547	19,367	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	#	#	#
Tagalog	32,766	35,395	32,141	28,547	27,277	26,074	25,093	24,149	22,978	20,231	19,319	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	#	#	#	#
Grade
Kindergarten	657,391	667,835	667,665	629,013	606,398	600,184	587,543	555,660	555,599	435,304	522,464	13.1	12.5	12.1	11.7	11.1	10.9	8.8	9.9	17.5	17.4	17.4	16.7	16.3	16.2	15.9	15.1	15.0	12.9	14.7
Grade 1	646,362	665,327	665,612	640,017	621,106	603,824	588,515	571,915	554,566	526,616	519,625	13.3	12.8	12.2	11.7	11.4	10.8	10.6	9.9	17.1	17.4	17.1	16.6	16.5	16.3	16.0	15.7	15.2	15.0	15.0
Grade 2	585,702	609,804	630,475	614,681	614,809	599,147	574,690	557,799	549,027	520,055	524,566	12.8	12.7	12.1	11.5	11.1	10.7	10.5	10.0	15.8	16.4	16.6	15.9	16.0	15.9	15.6	15.3	15.1	14.7	14.9
Grade 3	500,032	540,396	558,925	567,131	564,811	576,051	551,257	527,408	521,480	511,607	510,557	11.8	11.6	11.6	11.0	10.5	10.2	10.3	9.7	13.5	14.5	15.0	14.9	14.6	14.9	14.6	14.2	14.1	14.4	14.4
Grade 4	417,616	428,119	439,529	436,554	461,022	457,476	504,999	494,195	475,765	479,376	492,897	9.1	9.5	9.2	10.1	9.8	9.3	9.7	9.4	11.4	11.6	11.9	11.7	12.2	11.9	13.1	13.1	12.8	13.3	13.9
Grade 5	338,174	367,088	361,651	364,178	372,817	389,304	400,053	426,310	430,399	409,338	445,927	7.6	7.7	7.9	8.0	8.5	8.4	8.2	8.5	9.1	10.0	9.8	9.8	10.0	10.2	10.3	11.0	11.3	11.2	12.3
Grade 6	273,457	288,085	293,778	287,798	305,530	318,740	329,313	346,319	372,575	370,788	383,171	6.0	6.3	6.4	6.6	6.9	7.3	7.5	7.3	7.3	7.7	8.0	7.8	8.2	8.5	8.6	8.9	9.6	9.9	10.5
Grade 7	239,156	255,395	267,416	260,507	267,094	286,261	291,873	308,242	332,877	348,806	364,893	5.4	5.5	5.8	5.8	6.1	6.5	7.0	6.9	6.5	6.8	7.1	7.0	7.2	7.6	7.7	8.0	8.5	9.0	9.7
Grade 8	214,896	227,844	239,817	242,540	245,574	258,192	265,210	278,688	299,022	315,476	346,266	5.0	5.1	5.2	5.3	5.5	5.8	6.4	6.6	5.8	6.2	6.4	6.5	6.6	6.9	7.0	7.4	7.7	8.1	9.0
Grade 9	244,266	255,008	261,564	263,081	269,704	286,168	280,408	291,056	326,386	307,513	369,516	5.5	5.6	5.8	5.6	5.8	6.4	6.2	7.0	6.2	6.4	6.6	6.5	6.7	7.2	7.0	7.3	8.1	7.7	8.9
Grade 10	201,724	202,774	202,377	197,494	214,015	232,687	255,043	251,394	269,559	288,004	292,498	4.1	4.4	4.7	5.1	5.0	5.3	5.8	5.6	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.2	5.6	6.0	6.7	6.5	7.0	7.4	7.6
Grade 11	162,804	170,847	168,437	157,395	162,269	183,982	202,429	218,952	219,090	235,415	255,598	3.3	3.3	3.7	4.0	4.4	4.3	4.7	4.9	4.6	4.8	4.8	4.4	4.5	5.0	5.5	6.0	6.0	6.4	6.9
Grade 12	145,444	159,410	161,227	143,189	138,814	146,373	167,145	185,699	199,082	204,569	224,715	3.0	2.9	3.0	3.3	3.7	3.9	4.1	4.3	4.2	4.6	4.6	4.1	3.9	4.1	4.6	5.1	5.5	5.6	6.1
Ungraded⁵	8,118	11,783	11,422	10,114	10,218	11,019	11,803	10,014	10,460	10,481	10,903	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	6.8	10.0	8.3	7.3	7.5	7.9	8.4	7.5	7.8	8.0	8.5
Race/ethnicity
American Indian/ Alaska Native	---	---	---	38,081	38,792	39,397	30,423	38,120	38,221	36,403	37,438	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.6	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7	---	---	---	7.6	7.9	8.0	6.3	8.1	8.2	20.5	8.5
Asian	---	---	---	516,586	511,703	521,257	530,949	528,727	523,388	503,824	500,761	10.7	10.5	10.5	10.7	10.5	10.2	10.2	9.7	---	---	---	21.4	20.7	20.7	20.6	20.2	19.9	19.2	19.2
Black	---	---	---	172,250	178,141	193,454	210,978	217,959	220,955	213,656	213,832	3.6	3.7	3.9	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.2	---	---	---	2.3	2.4	2.6	2.8	2.9	3.0	3.0	3.0
Hispanic	---	---	---	3,745,646	3,772,633	3,818,918	3,790,626	3,837,314	3,929,142	3,825,384	4,006,355	77.8	77.7	77.2	76.5	76.4	76.8	77.1	77.9	---	---	---	30.2	29.8	29.5	28.9	28.8	28.9	28.4	29.4
Pacific Islander	---	---	---	26,614	26,992	27,922	29,865	31,192	32,453	31,705	33,419	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	---	---	---	15.4	15.6	15.4	16.4	17.1	17.9	17.8	18.7
White	---	---	---	283,253	294,763	313,996	327,309	331,902	332,436	314,757	313,279	5.9	6.1	6.3	6.6	6.6	6.5	6.3	6.1	---	---	---	1.2	1.2	1.3	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.4	1.4
Two or more races	---	---	---	29,527	31,136	34,382	37,760	38,894	39,260	37,578	41,093	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	---	---	---	1.9	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.0	1.8	8.4	1.8
Students with disabilities⁶	---	---	---	665,427	713,383	700,927	718,355	766,633	792,039	800,592	832,248	13.8	14.7	14.2	14.3	15.3	15.5	16.1	15.8	---	---	---	11.4	12.0	11.6	11.6	12.1	12.1	12.0	12.3
---Not available.
#Rounds to zero.
¹For the 15 most commonly reported home languages of ELs, the number of ELs as a percent of total enrollment is calculated. For students by grade or race/ethnicity, the number of ELs as a percent of the enrollment of students in that grade or of that race/ethnicity is calculated. For students with disabilities, the number of ELs with disabilities as a percent of the total number of students with disabilities is calculated.
²The number of ELs in fall 2018 excludes Vermont data because Vermont did not report by the date this source was extracted. There were a total of 1,687 ELs in Vermont in fall 2017.
³Ranking of the 15 most commonly reported home languages is based on fall 2021 data. In each year shown, home language data were unavailable for approximately 25,000 to 133,000 students identified as English learners. Enrollments of children speaking less common languages are not separately listed.
⁴Examples of situations in which English might be reported as an English learner's home language include students who live in multilingual households and students adopted from other countries who speak English at home but also have been raised speaking another language.
⁵Also includes students reported as being enrolled in grade 13.
⁶Includes only students with disabilities who were served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Percentage based on all ELs.
NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Includes all students identified as English learners--both those participating in EL programs and those not participating in EL programs. Except where otherwise noted, data for 2013-14 and earlier years include all ELs enrolled at any time during the school year. Excludes ELs who are enrolled in prekindergarten. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because grade levels and race/ethnicity were not reported for some students and because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, EDFacts file 141, Data Group 678, extracted December 12, 2023, from the EDFacts Data Warehouse (internal U.S. Department of Education source); and Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary and Secondary Education," 2011-12 through 2021-22. Office of Special Education Programs, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) database, retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www2.ed.gov/programs/osepidea/618-data/state-level-data-files/index.html#bcc. (This table was prepared January 2024.)

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