NLA Info: ESL Expands Lead Over ABE

[DJRosen at world.std.com]

[Crossposted from the NIFL-ESL list]


 from the 3/11/99 newsletter of the Division of Adult Education and Literacy,
 Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education
     
     English language instruction is the fastest growing component of adult 
     education--up 105% in the last decade. Our latest data show that 
     English language programs expanded their lead over adult basic 
     education and adult secondary education in 1997. English as a Second 
     Language (ESL) enrollments accounted for almost half of all 1997 adult 
     education enrollments, up from 39% in 1996. Adult basic education's 
     share slipped to one third of total enrollments in 1997, down from 39% 
     the previous year. It's not surprising, however, since about 4.5 
     million immigrants arrived in the five-year period between 1990 and 
     1994 while 4.8 million came during the entire decade of the 1970s. On 
     average recent immigrants are younger and less likely to have 
     graduated from high school than natives. 

Fran Keenan
National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE)
Center for Applied Linguistics

fran at cal.org

Visit NCLE-- your adult ESL home on the Web--at http://www.cal.org/ncle