Northeast & Islands | December 13, 2021
English learners are the fastest-growing group of students in U.S. schools, with 43 states seeing increases in their English learner (EL) student population between the 2000/01 and 2016/17 school years.1 The 10 Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) are committed to supporting EL students and their families so that students can thrive in school and beyond. To this end, RELs have partnered with states and districts to identify and address the needs and priorities of EL students and formed a cross-REL working group to advance this work. Over the past eight years, the group has explored EL issues relevant to REL work, acted as a clearinghouse on key EL news and updates, and shared REL work on EL topics internally and externally.