School Supports for English Learners during the Pandemic. ACT Research. Data Byte

To support English learners (ELs), schools across the US have been providing programs and services to ELs, such as English language development instructions and bilingual education (Umansky & Porter, 2020). However, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant changes to education, including the abrupt transition to online learning. Several studies have found declines in ELs' academic performance and English language proficiency performance, and, in some cases, these declines were disproportionately larger compared to other students (Lazarin, 2022). To understand why their performance declined, it is important to first find out whether the pandemic disrupted the programs and services that ELs received in school. In 2002, ACT surveyed EL students who took the ACT® test in February or April 2022 to learn about their experiences and perceptions of instruction and testing supports at school. This data byte focuses on survey responses to questions about the programs and services they received at school during the pandemic. [For the full report, "Experiences and Perceptions of English Learners Testing with Language Supports. ACT Research. Insights in Education & Work," see ED629126.]