ELL population burgeoning in San Diego County

 Local schools in San Diego County are enrolling a growing number of students who don't speak English—students who typically fare poorly on standardized tests—at a time when the federal No Child Left Behind Act calls for unprecedented test score gains.

Nearly 123,000 students in San Diego County public schools are classified as English learners, up from nearly 116,000 two years ago. The increase would be enough to fill three large high schools or every classroom in the Ramona Unified School District, making the federal goal of a 100% pass rate in math and reading in five years almost impossible, educators say.

“Every district at some point is not going to be able to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind because of the contradiction,” said Shirley Day, who coordinates English-learner programs for the Poway Unified School District. “An English learner is someone who by definition is not able to perform at grade level proficiency. If they were able to perform, we would not have identified them as English learners.” Read more in the San Diego Union-Tribune online.