A new report from the Center for American Progress makes the case that communities looking to improve education for school-aged English-language learners should also offer services to their parents.
The study finds that limited English skills for parents and students “can create a poverty trap for families” and argues that engaging them simultaneously improves the academic and educational well-being of both generations.
It also found that language-learner students are more likely to attend high-poverty schools with a lack of adequate resources, and that the growth of immigrant communities across the United States has led to “uneven and inadequate access to adult English instruction.”