University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute

Enrollment of language minority students continues to outpace overall enrollment growth. In the ten-year period from 1991-92 to 2001-02, California’s public schools added more than one million students, an increase of 20 percent. In the same period, the number of English learners (ELs) increased by 44 percent and the number of Fluent English Proficient (FEP) students increased by 41 percent. Altogether, language minority students represented more than 70 percent of the increase in student enrollment over this period.