Connecticut Blooms with Cultural and Linguistic Richness

Students in Connecticut schools speak a diverse array of languages, from Akan and Algonquian to Zande and Zurate. During the 2007-2008 school year, a total of 161 dominant languages were spoken by Connecticut’s public school students in grades K-12. One in seven students had a dominant language other than English (72,417 students in Connecticut’s schools). Of those students, 41.3% were assessed as English Language Learners (28,879 students). For detailed information regarding dominant languages in Connecticut public schools, English Language Learners in Connecticut, identification and services, and the performance of English Language Learners and former English Language Learners, please read the Connecticut Department of Education’s July 2008 Data Bulletin on English Language Learners in CT. [Document available below.]

Of particular note in the CSDE Data Bulletin on ELLs in CT (July 2008) are the performance levels of former English Language Learners as compared to the native English-speaking (non-ELL) students in the same grades. The data indicate that in the 2007-2008 school year, former ELLs (i.e., those students who have exited from ELL status by achieving linguistic proficiency on the designated state test – the LAS Links – and academic proficiency by achieving all grade-level performance standards on all subtests of the CMT) performed “as well or even better than non-ELL students, particularly on the writing section” of the CMT (CSDE Data Bulletin on ELLs, July 2008, page 7).

Connecticut State Department of Education
Division of Assessment and Accountability
Bureau of Data Collection, Research and Evaluation
DATA BULLETIN - July 2008