Educational Policy and ELLs In 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which re-affirmed the civil rights law obligated schools to ensure that ELLs have equal access to education (NCELA, 2016; Colorin Colorado, 2017). The same concept underlining this Act was previously found in the No Child Left Behind policy. The effect that this policy has had on the education of is that it has helped to ensure that ELLs receive fair treatment in schools and receive the help they require.

Because ELLs come from a foreign environment and culture, they are more likely to require special assistance when it comes to acquiring the L2. Their familiarity with the new surroundings and the manner of expressions is less than a learner who has been raised in the native environment.

Some specific ways that the policy has helped ELLs is that it has taken into consideration that situation substantially. For instance, as Colorin Colorado (2017) reports, there are now requirements that schools establish statewide exit and entrance procedures for ELLs and that schools provide more focus on multilingualism to help students retain their L1 as they learn their L2. Schools enhancing their ability to monitor ELL progress is...

school, report on but exclude from accountability system the results on these tests; for the second year of enrollment, include a measure of student growth on both tests; and for the third year of enrollment, include proficiency on both tests in the accountability system.
These options allow ELLS to have greater chance of academic success and overall improvement of education by allowing them to take some time to catch up with their peers before they are assessed at the same level.

Gaps still exist, however, because even though these policies offer guidance, schools vary in terms of resources and the kinds of attention they can give to ELLs—so not…