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Massachusetts: classified-EL share over time

Annual share of public-school students classified as English Learners.

0% 4% 8% 11% 15% 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2023 2011: 7.5% 2012: 7.4% 2013: 7.7% 2014: 8.2% 2015: 8.6% 2016: 9.0% 2017: 9.7% 2018: 9.9% 2019: 10.2% 2020: 10.0% 2021: 10.5% 2023: 13.1% (state agency)
Between 2011 and 2023, the classified-EL share rose from 7.5% to 13.1%. Observations through fall 2021 are from NCES; observations for fall 2023 are from the Massachusetts state education agency (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Selected Populations Report (2023-24)). State-agency methodology may differ from NCES; see the note below.
NCES Digest, Table 204.20 Massachusetts state education agency

Methodology note

  • Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, October fall snapshot (119,859 EL students of 914,959 enrolled). Identification under M.G.L. c. 71A: home language survey plus WIDA screening. The 2.6 percentage-point increase over NCES's fall 2021 value (10.5%) is consistent with documented post-2021 enrollment growth. DESE does not publish a multi-year EL percentage table for fall 2018-2021 in directly accessible form, so methodological continuity with the prior NCES series cannot be confirmed from overlapping observations; whether DESE includes post-reclassification monitoring-period students (NCES does not) is not stated in the SEA documentation.
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About this figure

Each point is the fall-enrollment share of students classified as English Learners in Massachusetts's public schools. Observations through fall 2021 are drawn from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Digest of Education Statistics, Table 204.20, the canonical national series; NCES has not yet republished this table for school years after 2021-22. For fall 2023, the catalog falls back to figures published directly by the Massachusetts state education agency. State-agency methodology may differ from NCES — the methodology note above the data table records the difference, and the dashed line and hollow markers in the chart mark the boundary.

Sources: NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 (opens in a new tab) ; Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Selected Populations Report (2023-24) (opens in a new tab) .

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