Study: Few Illinois Teachers Qualified In ELL Instruction

The National Journal (10/11, Ramirez, Subscription Publication) reports that according to a new study from the Latino Policy Forum and UC Berkeley, "few Illinois teachers are trained to educate English-language learners and only a small number are interested in obtaining the credentials to work with these children." The piece notes that the study found that roughly six percent of early education teachers "have either bilingual or English as a Second Language training. The ratio of ESL students to credentialed ESL teachers in predominantly Latino schools was 50 to 1, a figure significantly higher than the state's education board's recommended 10-to-1 ratio for optimal learning for limited-English youngsters."