December 12, 2014  Subscribe
English Language Learners
Academic achievement

Nearly one in three U.S. children lives in a home where a language other than English is spoken. Bilingualism has potential cognitive, social, and emotional benefits that can go unrealized if these students' particular needs are not met. This brief compares state-level trends in math and reading achievement for English language learners and their peers. We found much room for improvement.

 

DataBank

The proportion of children who are dual language learners has grown, but the number who speak English less than "very well" has declined. Children in households where a language other than English is spoken were more likely to live with two parents than were children whose only language is English. Read more on this indicator in our DataBank.

Early Childhood 

Big changes and stagnant wages in child care

In this post, read about the Child Care and Development Block Grant of 2014, a new law aimed at making child care more affordable and increasing the quality of early learning and after-school programs. We also describe the state of child care workers' wages, where we have made little progress.   


Carol Emig, president of Child Trends, with Evelyn Moore, president emeritus of the National Black Child Development Institute and a founding board member of Child Trends

Wednesday's day-long White House Summit on Early Childhood Education resulted in some exciting news that will benefit thousands of families with young children. The Summit drew early care and education leaders from around the country, including Child Trends' president, Carol Emig. The White House announced up to $750 million in new federal awards to support early learning for over 63,000 additional children. These investments will expand high-quality preschool or grow the supply of early care and education for infants and toddlers beginning next year. Private and philanthropic organizations committed to new actions and investments of more than $300 million, bringing the total new investments to over $1 billion. 

Children's Well-Being 

This week, the Census Bureau released a report highlighting how family structure, parents' nativity, and family instability are associated with child well-being. Among the findings are that household structure was associated with children's involvement in extracurricular activities. Child Trends helped design the questions used in the report.