Six months ago, 16-year-old Honduran Jeffrey Flores arrived in Fort Worth with his family without knowing a word of English but secure in the knowledge it would be among the first things to tackle in his new country.

“It’s important I learn English so I can have a good job,” Flores said in Spanish.

Flores is one of about a million Texas students — roughly 20% of the state’s 5.4 million public school students — who are enrolled in English as a second language classes. He and his two siblings attend Fort Worth Independent School District’s International Newcomers Academy, which is tailored for students new to the country and who need to learn English.

Students like Flores and his siblings aren’t alone in their journey. Each year, more people of color, especially Hispanics, come to Texas, with nearly 2 million additional Hispanic people calling Texas home over the last decade, according to the 2020 census. Texans of color as a whole accounted for 95% of the state’s population growth.

So the importance of teaching non-English-speaking children has never been higher.

But the pandemic is threatening what was a fragile area of education to begin with. A recent pre-pandemic study from Rice University suggests that Texas is getting worse at teaching students English, which impacts both their academic success and potential lifetime income.

Across the state, researchers have found that the number of English learners who failed to become proficient in the language after five years of ESL classes is increasing. The study tracked students who entered first grade between 2000 and 2015 to see if they would become proficient — basically, graduate from ESL — by the time they reach fifth grade. Those who did not were labeled “long-term English learners.”

Read the full article about english learning progress before COVID-19 by Brian Lopez at The 74.