Table 5.4a.  Number and percentage of children ages 5–17 who spoke a language other than English at home and who spoke English with difficulty, by race/ethnicity: 2006

1 Respondents were asked if each child in the household spoke a language other than English at home. If they answered "yes," they were asked how well each child could speak English. Categories used for reporting were "very well," "well," "not well," and "not at all." All those who reported speaking English less than "very well" were considered to have difficulty speaking English.

2 Percentage of the total population for that particular subgroup. For example, 19.6 percent of all American Indians/Alaska Natives spoke a language other than English at home, and 2.8 percent of all American Indians/Alaska Natives spoke a language other than English at home and spoke English with difficulty.

3 Total includes other race/ethnicity categories not separately shown.

NOTE: A Spanish-language version of the American Community Survey (ACS) was available to respondents. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The Condition of Education 2008 (NCES 2008-031), based on U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2006.