By Robyn D. Shulman, Image by Charlein Gracia on Unsplash
There are 4.9 Million Multilingual Learners in the United States
Multilingual teachers have endured one of the most challenging periods in recent educational history. The COVID-19 pandemic forced rapid shifts to remote learning that exposed and widened existing inequities for students who are learning English. While many families struggled with the sudden change, multilingual learners and their households faced a unique set of obstacles that pushed some students far behind academically and socially.
Remote learning barriers included lack of devices, limited or no internet access, language barriers between families and school staff, and shortages of teachers who can instruct in multiple languages. For many low-income families, economic stresses meant older students took on caregiving responsibilities or part-time jobs, further reducing time for schoolwork. These factors combined to create significant disruptions that widened achievement gaps and limited opportunities for multilingual students.
Responses to the shift to distance learning varied widely across districts and states: some systems implemented targeted supports for English learners, while others lacked coherent plans. According to EdWeek, there are now an estimated 4.9 million children in U.S. public schools learning English, and enrollment among English learners is growing rapidly in parts of the South and Midwest.
Helping Teachers and Multilingual Learners After the Pandemic
Large populations of English learners were already at risk before the pandemic. For example, reporting in the Los Angeles Times emphasized that a substantial share of California’s students—nearly one in five—are English learners, and many of these students have historically shown lower outcomes on measures like graduation and college preparation. School closures intensified these risks, placing these students at higher risk of persistent educational loss.
As schools reopen and adjust to post-pandemic realities, multilingual teachers face an intensified workload to help students recover academically while also addressing social and emotional needs. The recovery plan must be multifaceted: identify learning gaps quickly, accelerate instruction for current grade-level skills, provide targeted interventions, and restore connections between students, families, and schools.
Social-Emotional Learning
Rebuilding relationships and addressing mental health are critical first steps. Students cannot learn effectively if their basic emotional and social needs are unmet. During the pandemic many children experienced the loss of daily routines, isolation from peers, and interruptions to extracurricular activities—factors that can undermine motivation and readiness to learn. For newcomers to the country, the pandemic was especially isolating, depriving them of chances to form friendships and practice language in community settings.
“Maslow before Bloom” is a useful reminder: teachers should assess and respond to students’ well-being before expecting academic progress. Multilingual teachers often serve as trusted adults who provide stability, understanding, and cultural connection. Prioritizing social-emotional learning (SEL) helps rebuild belonging, supports stress management, and strengthens students’ confidence to re-engage with academics.
Addressing Teachers’ Needs
Educators also need emotional support and practical resources. Administrators should acknowledge the sustained pressures teachers experienced during school closures—rapidly learning new technologies, maintaining student engagement remotely, and balancing their own health and family concerns. Supporting teacher well-being is essential to sustain effective instruction.
Edtech can help by reducing routine burdens and enabling personalized instruction. Tools that support language learning, communication with families in their home languages, and data-driven instruction can free teachers to focus on high-impact interactions with students and families.
Ensuring Access to Technology
The pandemic highlighted a persistent digital divide. While many households had internet access for schoolwork, access was uneven—particularly among low-income families and households with multilingual learners. In some rural and under-resourced communities, limited device availability and unreliable broadband kept students from participating in remote learning. Schools must prioritize sustainable solutions for equitable technology access so that all students can participate fully in any future remote learning needs.
Early, Formative, and Benchmark Assessments Make a Crucial Difference
Early assessments create a baseline that helps teachers identify where students are and what they need. Formative assessments used throughout the year provide ongoing insight into student progress, revealing learning gaps in real time through methods such as classroom observations, project-based tasks, and informal checks for understanding. Benchmark assessments give periodic snapshots that help teachers calibrate instruction and measure growth.
These assessments, when used together, allow teachers to design personalized, adaptive learning pathways. Instant feedback through benchmarks empowers students to see their progress and take ownership of practice and improvement.
Accelerated Learning vs. Remediation
Accelerated learning focuses on moving students forward by teaching grade-level standards while integrating any prerequisite skills needed for comprehension. Rather than retreading disconnected past content, acceleration embeds necessary review within the context of current instruction so students can engage with present learning goals.
Remediation often concentrates on reteaching past material in isolation, which can be time-consuming and disconnected from what students need right now. Research and practice increasingly support acceleration approaches: targeted, high-impact instruction with rapid feedback tends to drive quicker recovery and stronger student engagement. Effective edtech can support this by delivering individualized, adaptive practice and enabling teachers to target instruction efficiently.
Summative Assessments
Summative assessments measure cumulative learning over a period—semester, quarter, or year—and can inform larger-scale planning. For multilingual learners, short, focused summative checks used appropriately can help track mastery without overwhelming students. These assessments should align with instruction and be one part of a broader assessment strategy that includes early, formative, and benchmark measures.
Effective Multilingual Programs
High-quality multilingual programs combine research-based pretests, interim benchmarks, and summative assessments so teachers and administrators can monitor progress accurately and act quickly. Timely assessment data enables targeted interventions and personalized learning plans that meet each student where they are. Multilingual teachers need tools that simplify differentiation, allow students to work at individual paces, and help schools meet standards without sacrificing language development or cultural responsiveness.
References:
Carter, Edna. “Summit K12, Accelerated Literacy and Language Development.” Summit K12, 2021–2022.
Esquivel, Paloma. “In California, a million English learners are at risk of intractable education loss.” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2021.
Gao, Niu; Hayes, Joseph; Starr, Darriya. “The Digital Divide in Education.” Public Policy Institute of California, 2020–2022.
Mitchell, Cory. “The Nation’s English-Learner Population Has Surged: 3 Things to Know.” EdWeek, February 18, 2020.