Montgomery, AL – A new study shows Alabama is among a minority of states that lack teacher standards for instructing students who are English-language learners, and it needs to do more to reach that population.
The 13th annual Quality Counts study was released Wednesday by Editorial Projects in Education Research Center and is the first to focus on ELL students, or those for whom English is their second language.
Researchers say there are 4.3 million such students in the nation and nearly 17,000 in Alabama.
Alabama is among 17 states that don't have a broad framework of professional standards describing what teachers should know and be able to do to instruct ELL students.
The state received an overall grade of 'C' when judged on six factors including students' chance for success, K-12 achievement and school finance.
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