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New York City’s public schools routinely fail to provide required instruction for English language learners and ensure they are educated by teachers with the proper certification, according to an audit released Monday by Comptroller Brad Lander.
In 48% of the 301 student records reviewed by the comptroller’s office, the Education Department did not enroll students in the proper courses or give them the required number of minutes of instruction in English as a new language or bilingual programs as required by state rules. Nearly 41% of the sampled students had one or more teachers who were not certified to teach those programs, according to the sample, which was drawn from the 2022-23 school year.
The city has long failed to properly serve students who are in the process of learning English, struggling to recruit enough bilingual teachers to meet the growing need and leaving some educators to rely on workarounds like Google translate to communicate with their students.
“English Language Learner programs are the cornerstone of the City’s work to deliver equal access for all students, no matter what language they speak or where they come from,” Lander said in a statement. “Our audit finds that the [Education Department] routinely denied this promise to thousands of young New Yorkers and their families.”
Fueled by an influx of asylum seekers, the number of students who are in the process of learning English in the city’s public school system has increased in recent years. Over 152,000 students were considered English learners last school year — nearly 17% of the student body. The number of English learners has jumped 12% over the last five years, even as enrollment in the city’s public schools has declined overall.
City officials tweaked the city’s funding formula under Mayor Eric Adams to give a greater boost to schools that serve high-need students, including English learners and students in temporary housing. (Most of the newly arrived asylum seekers do not live in permanent housing.)
Yet the audit, which includes data from the last three years, found that schools have continued to struggle to provide the support English learners should receive. Education Department officials have skirted requirements to create bilingual programs by increasingly seeking waivers from the state that allow for exemptions to create new classes for students who speak less common languages.
Of 150 waiver requests last school year, auditors found 146 were improper, violating the state limit on requesting them for more than five consecutive years and affecting about 9,500 students. More than half came from South Brooklyn Districts 20, 21, and 22 and included students who speak Russian, Bengali, Arabic, Uzbek, and Haitian Creole, among other languages.
Meanwhile, even as the number of English learners grew significantly, the Education Department added only nine new bilingual programs between the 2022-23 school year and last school year, bringing the total to 566.
The audit found several other issues, including that officials often did not document whether the Education Department informed families of their rights or offered them information that would allow them to select among different programs for English learners. It also noted that the city does not monitor whether educators who are certified to teach English learners complete ongoing training to maintain their certifications. Teachers self report that information to the state.
Many of the issues raised in the audit resonated with Jennifer Gorman, a Bronx high school teacher who is certified to teach English learners. She said schools often struggle to provide students all the support they need because of resource constraints, including shortages of bilingual special education teachers.
“Everyone’s just doing the best we can with what we’ve got,” Gorman said. “The whole system is not designed for their success.”
She wishes the city would create more bilingual programs where students learn both in English and their home language as opposed to classes taught predominantly in English with wraparound support in their first language.
“When we don’t use that home language as a resource, we’re setting the kids back even further,” she said.
The audit recommended 10 different reforms, including recruiting more educators to teach English learners, creating better oversight systems for monitoring whether students are receiving required minutes of instruction, and standardizing the process of schools informing families about different program options. The Education Department agreed with nine of the recommendations, rejecting one that urged the city to centrally track whether teachers are completing ongoing training requirements.
“Well before the release of the auditor’s report, we had already implemented strategic, systemwide initiatives to strengthen language instruction, compliance indicators, and ensure equity in access to higher quality education,” Education Department spokesperson Onika Richards wrote in a statement.
“By expanding hiring for English as a New Language and Bilingual Education teachers and continuing growth of our bilingual education programs, we have taken action to meet the linguistic and academic needs of every student,” she added.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
