page_title: Hispanic and Latino Americans
section_title: English language learners
hierarchical_section_title: Hispanic and Latino Americans / Education / Hispanic or Latino K-12 education / English language learners
caption_attribution_description: English: Spanish speakers in the United States by counties in 2000
context_page_description: In the United States, Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who are descendants of people from Spain and Latin America. More generally, these demographics include all Americans who identify as Hispanic and/or Latino. As of 2018, the Census Bureau estimated that there were almost 60 million Hispanics living in the United States.
  "Origin" can be viewed as the ancestry, nationality group, lineage or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify as Spanish or Hispanic may be of any race. As one of the only two specifically designated categories of ethnicity in the United States, Hispanics form a pan-ethnicity incorporating a diversity of inter-related cultural and linguistic heritages. Most Hispanic Americans are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Guatemalan, or Colombian origin. The predominant origin of regional Hispanic populations varies widely in different locations across the country.
  Hispanic Americans are the second fastest-growing ethnic group by percentage growth in the United States after Asian Americans.
context_section_description: Currently, Hispanic students make up 80% of English language learners in the United States. In 2008-9, 5.3 million students were classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) in pre-K to 12th grade. This is a result of many students entering the education system at different ages, although the majority of ELLs are not foreign born. In order to provide English instruction for Latino students there have been a multitude of English Language programs. However, the great majority of these programs are English Immersion, which arguably undermines the students' culture and knowledge of their primary language. As such, there continues to be great debate within schools as to which program can address these language disparities.
caption: Spanish speakers in the United States by counties in 2000