ESOL Fact Sheet

Prepared by the Mayor's Office of New Bostonians
March, 28, 2000 (updated January 2003)

There is a dramatic need for ESOL
in the city of Boston:


Need For ESOL

  • More than one in five Boston residents are immigrants.*

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  • There are currently 4,615 on the wait lists in Boston, people waiting for ESOL and ABE classes in the city of Boston today.**

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  • People wait six months to three years to enter an English class.**

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  • Almost 45,000 residents of Boston are linguistically isolated (which means that the adults in their household speak English either not well or not at all).*

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  • 35.6% of all Boston Public School students speak a primary language other than English.***

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  • Immigrants were responsible for 82% of the growth in the stateís labor force from the mid-1980ís to 1997.=

    • English skills are critical for immigrants
    who want to work and contribute to Boston:

     

    Impact of English Skills

  • Almost 19% of Boston welfare recipients do not speak English as a first language.==

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  • Caseworkers report that most welfare-to-work transition programs do not accept individuals with significant language barriers.

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  • Lack of English skills also keeps many workers from advancing to higher-paid, higher-skilled jobs.

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  • Workers with little or no English proficiency earn 15 to 20 percent less than immigrants who speak English well. =

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  • Without the ability to speak English, immigrants are unable to access many governmental or private services, or to participate in their childrenís education.

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  • Literacy in English is a required to obtain US citizenship and become a voting member of oneís community.

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    *  1990 US Census
    **  January, 2003 Massachusetts Dept. of Education (DOE) data
    ***  1998 Massachusetts DOE data.
    =  1999 MassINC report: "The Changing Workforce: Immigrants and the New Economy in Massachusetts."
    ==  City of Boston Office of Jobs & Community Services (JCS), Welfare to Work data.