This Issue Brief examines growth in the population of English Language Learner (ELL) students in U.S. public schools between the 1994 and 2000 school years. Data are drawn from the Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS) of 1993-94 and 1999-2000. Nationally, the number of ELL students in public schools increased from approximately two million students in 1993–94 to three million students in 1999–2000. Regionally, over half the national total of U.S. public school ELL students in 1999–2000 were in the West region. The Issue Brief also examined the extent to which ELL students were concentrated in schools in 1999–2000. Nationally in 1999–2000, 62 percent of public school students were in schools with an ELL student population of less than 1 percent of the school population. However, in the West, 19 percent of students were in schools with ELL populations comprising at least 25 percent of the school population; 7 percent of students in the West were in schools comprising over 50 percent ELL students.
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