California Latino students struggle in English-only submersion

California, like Arizona and Massachusetts, have nationalistic English-only laws that preclude virtually any form of native language instruction. After more than a decade of implementation in these states, English learners perform among the lowest on many academic indicators. Ed Week reports on a Californian study among middle school age children that "found 30 percent of students learning English had not gained language proficiency by 8th grade, although most had been in the English learning program since kindergarten. Of those who remained in English classes in high school, almost half dropped out and only 6 percent passed the state high school exit exam." LA Unified School District,