Limited English Proficiency: A Growing and Costly Educational Challenge Facing Many School Districts

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how the nation's schools are educating limited-English-proficient (LEP) students, focusing on: (1) the characteristics of LEP students and the challenges that school districts face in educating them; (2) how districts with students from linguistically diverse backgrounds educate LEP students and the extent that academic subjects are taught in the students' native languages; (3) what alternative educational approaches exist when the diversity of languages spoken by LEP students makes native language instruction difficult; and (4) whether key federal programs targeted to LEP students provide the types of support districts need to implement LEP programs.