According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Raise the Bar: Lead the World initiative to advance educational excellence and equity (2023a), “we must do all we can to improve the learning environments in which English learners are learning English and increase access to high-quality language programs…” to meet the key goal to “provide every student with a pathway to multilingualism” (2023b).
To ensure access to world language education for all, it is critical to examine what language instruction is available to K-12 students across the country. Unfortunately, there is no systematic collection of world language enrollment data in the United States, and comprehensive data on language education, particularly at the K-12 level, is lacking (American Councils for International Education, 2017).
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), located within the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, is the federal statistical agency that collects and analyzes data related to American education. While NCES does not currently conduct studies focused exclusively on language education, it provides multiple reports that include statistics related to K-12 language programs, learners and teachers in the United States.
This overview of these reports shows what the data reveal about the current state and shifts over time in world language instruction in U.S. schools. It concludes with a discussion of key findings, calls to address gaps in data collection, and implications for educators and policymakers.
