opportunities and increase their earnings but more importantly, limiting their ability to help their children prepare for and succeed in school (Martinez and Wang). Consequently, state education agencies are faced with their biggest challenge on overcoming the language barrier that exists between students and teachers in schools that have large immigrant populations who cannot speak English.
Generally, ELLs tend to perform poorly on academics and on standardized tests, and to drop out of high school at rates higher than their English speaking peers. In some cases, these can be directly attributed to deficiencies in the teaching and learning environment. English language learners fail because they do not have access to effective bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) instruction. They are disadvantaged by a scarcity of appropriate assessment instruments and a lack of personnel trained to conduct linguistically and culturally relevant educational assessments (Valdes & Figueroa, 1996). According to Brown (1998), the instructor has several alternatives in order to make sure that students get a good grasp of the language. Educators may make use of several approaches such as the “content-based” approach wherein students learn a certain language through studying a certain subject or topic (Kaufman et al 2005). In the case of those who need further special education services, they are disadvantaged by the shortage of special educators who are trained to address their language- and disability-related needs simultaneously (Yates and Ortiz, 1998).
At the same time, parents of ELLs face daunting barriers as they try to become informed and involved in their child’s academic performance in school. Arias and