Listen to the article 3 min

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.

Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Education quietly rescinded Obama-era guidance that called on states and districts to ensure English learners "can participate meaningfully and equally" in school and "have equal access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential."

• The 40-page Dear Colleague letter, issued in 2015, commended districts for "creating programs that recognize the heritage languages of EL students as valuable assets to preserve." 

• The department said in a statement to K-12 Dive that it rescinded the guidance because "it is not aligned with [Trump] Administration priorities."  The rescission of the guidance is part of a broader effort from the Trump administration to center the English language above all others.

Dive Insight:

The comprehensive and long-standing guidance included information on identifying and assessing potential EL students, evaluating EL students for special education services, ensuring their parents have meaningful access to information, and avoiding "unnecessary segregation" of EL students, among other tasks districts typically undertake when serving English learners. 

Dear Colleague letters are not legally binding, but are often used to communicate to education stakeholders administration's priorities and policy interpretations.

The current administration's rescission of the guidance follows the department's closure of the Office of English Language Acquisition, which was shut down entirely as part of the agency's downsizing efforts that began in March. 

Before its closure, that office helped ensure that English learners and immigrant students gained English proficiency and academic success, schools preserved students' heritage languages and cultures, and that all students had the chance to develop biliteracy or multiliteracy skills. 

The department's erasure of the office and guidance that would have helped districts and states serve English learners comes amid other efforts from the Trump administration to prioritize the English language.

In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring English the national language, despite the country still having no legally established national language. 

The order undid a Clinton-era order that required federal agencies to improve access to their programs for those with limited English proficiency.

The recent federal push to prioritize English over other languages and to reduce access for English learners comes at a time when the percentage of English learners in public schools is increasing. 

There were approximately 5.3 million English learner students in fall 2021, compared with 4.6 million such students a decade prior, according to data from the Education Department last updated in 2024.