In 2020-21, 32% of US public schools that had an opening for an English as a second language or bilingual teacher reported that it was very difficult or impossible to fill, and the share rose in every one of the 12 teaching fields NCES tracks compared with 2011-12 (NCES, Condition of Education, Teacher Openings, 2023). The students those positions serve keep growing: 5,263,596 English learners were enrolled in fall 2021, 10.6% of public school students, up from 4,635,185 a decade earlier (NCES, Digest Table 204.20). Inside schools, 55% of educators who work with English learners say their district does not have enough appropriately trained staff (EdWeek Research Center, March 2026), and about half of the teachers who serve these students feel at most somewhat prepared (RAND, 2025). For the student side of this picture, see our ESL enrollment statistics. We aggregated data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the Learning Policy Institute, RAND, the EdWeek Research Center, the National Council on Teacher Quality, The Century Foundation, California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the other primary sources listed in the methodology.
TL;DR
- 32% of public schools with an ESL or bilingual opening had difficulty filling it in 2020-21 (NCES, Condition of Education 2023).
- 80% of public schools hired for at least one teaching opening in 2020-21, versus 66% in 2011-12 (NCES, Condition of Education 2023).
- Teachers of English learners have been among the 5 most scarce teaching fields for at least 20 years (NCTQ via Education Week, 2025).
- 5,263,596 English learners (10.6%) were enrolled in fall 2021 (NCES, Digest Table 204.20).
- 425,412 teaching positions nationally were unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified in 2024-25, about 1 in 8 (Learning Policy Institute, 2026).
- 84.3% of public school ESL teachers were in-field in 2020-21, up from 78.3% in 2011-12 (NCES, Digest Table 209.60).
- 55% of EL educators say trained staff are insufficient; 67% in rural districts (EdWeek Research Center, 2026).
- About half of teachers serving multilingual learners feel not at all or only somewhat prepared (RAND, RRA134-29, 2025).
- Only 16.5% of English learners are in classrooms that support their bilingualism (The Century Foundation, 2023).
- California bilingual authorizations rose from 617 in 2014-15 to 1,370 in 2023-24 (CTC data via The 74, 2026).
- Title III was funded at 890 million dollars in FY 2026; the FY 2027 budget proposes eliminating it (K-12 Dive, 2026).
- Only 4 states raise minimum pay for high-need subjects or specialty certifications by at least 5,000 dollars (NCTQ via Education Week, 2026).
1. Demand: 5.3 Million English Learners, Concentrated Where Hiring Is Hardest
A shortage is a mismatch between demand and supply, and demand for language specialists has grown faster than overall enrollment. English learners rose from 4,635,185 (9.4%) in fall 2011 to 5,263,596 (10.6%) in fall 2021, an increase of 628,411 students or 13.6% (5,263,596 / 4,635,185 = 1.136) (NCES, Digest of Education Statistics Table 204.20). The share rose in 38 states and the District of Columbia and fell in 12, with Rhode Island posting the largest increase (NCES Fast Facts, English learners).
The demand is front-loaded and geographically uneven. Kindergartens are 14.7% English learners, twelfth grade 6.1%, so every incoming cohort brings a larger caseload into elementary schools (NCES, Condition of Education, English Learners in Public Schools). Newer destination states are where pipelines are thinnest: Maryland went from 6.5% to 11.2% English learners in a decade, Kentucky from 2.7% to 5.4%. And 356,000 English learners attend rural schools, where trained staff turn out to be scarcest (see section 4).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| English learners in public schools, fall 2021 | 5,263,596 (10.6%) | NCES, Digest Table 204.20 |
| English learners, fall 2011 / fall 2019 / fall 2020 | 4,635,185 (9.4%) / 5,115,887 (10.1%) / 4,963,388 (10.1%) | NCES, Digest Table 204.20 |
| Highest state shares, fall 2021 | Texas 20.2%, California 18.9%, New Mexico 18.8% | NCES, Condition of Education 2024 |
| Largest state counts, fall 2021 | California 1,127,627; Texas 1,093,968; Florida 269,534; New York 246,985; Illinois 239,519 | NCES, Digest Table 204.20 |
| Fast-growing states, 2011 to 2021 | Rhode Island 5.5% to 12.5%; Maryland 6.5% to 11.2%; Connecticut 5.6% to 9.4%; Kentucky 2.7% to 5.4% | NCES, Digest Table 204.20 |
| EL share by grade, fall 2021 | Kindergarten 14.7%, grade 6 10.5%, grade 12 6.1% | NCES, Condition of Education 2024 |
| EL share by locale, fall 2021 | Cities 9.8% (1.5 million), suburbs 7.9% (1.6 million), towns 7.5% (386,000), rural 4.8% (356,000) | NCES, Condition of Education 2024 |
| Spanish-speaking ELs, fall 2021 | 4,023,289 (76.4%); next: Arabic 130,917, Chinese 95,584, Vietnamese 75,070 | NCES, Condition of Education 2024 |
Context note: the language mix matters for bilingual hiring specifically. A district can recruit Spanish-English teachers from a large pool, but the Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese speakers who make up the next tiers of demand have far smaller credentialed pipelines (see section 5). The National Council on Teacher Quality puts English learner growth at 40% since 2000, to 5.3 million in 2022-23 (Education Week, September 2025).
2. Hiring Difficulty: A Chronic Shortage Field
The ESL and bilingual shortage is not a pandemic artifact. The National Council on Teacher Quality finds that teachers for English learners have stayed among the top five most scarce teaching fields for at least 20 years, while special education has been the top shortage area for roughly 30 years (NCTQ via Education Week, September 2025). Federal school survey data show how that plays out at the building level: 32% of public schools with an ESL or bilingual opening in 2020-21 reported difficulty filling it (NCES, Condition of Education, Teacher Openings).
ESL sits in the middle of a broadly worse hiring market rather than at its extreme. Foreign languages (42%), special education (40%) and physical sciences (37%) had higher difficulty rates, and the share of public schools hiring for any opening rose from 66% to 80%. The national backdrop has improved only modestly since: the Learning Policy Institute counts 425,412 positions in 2024-25 that were either vacant or held by a teacher not fully certified, about 1 in 8 teaching positions (Learning Policy Institute, State Teacher Shortages 2026 Update). Our teacher attrition statistics cover the exit side of the same equation.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Public schools with an ESL or bilingual opening that had difficulty filling it, 2020-21 | 32% | NCES, Condition of Education (Teacher Openings), 2023 |
| Difficulty in other fields, public schools, 2020-21 | Foreign languages 42%, special education 40%, physical sciences 37%, math 32%, computer science 31% | NCES, Condition of Education, 2023 |
| Public schools hiring for at least one opening | 80% (2020-21) vs 66% (2011-12) | NCES, Condition of Education, 2023 |
| Fields with higher difficulty in 2020-21 than 2011-12 | All 12 reported fields | NCES, Condition of Education, 2023 |
| Years EL teachers have ranked among top 5 shortage fields | At least 20 | NCTQ via Education Week, 2025 |
| Unfilled positions, 2024-25 | 37,569 (29 states plus DC reporting) | Learning Policy Institute, 2026 |
| Teachers not fully certified for their assignment, 2024-25 | 387,843 | Learning Policy Institute, 2026 |
| States with a shortage of teachers for English learners, 2016 | At least 32 | US Department of Education announcement via Education Week, 2018 |
Context note: the 32-state figure comes from a 2016 federal announcement and is the most recent national count we could read; the Department of Education’s current Teacher Shortage Areas listing runs in a JavaScript application that could not be accessed, so no 2025-26 state count is cited here. An August 2022 national review by Tuan Nguyen, Chanh Lam and Paul Bruno estimated at least 36,000 vacancies and 163,000 positions held by underqualified teachers (EdWorkingPapers, Annenberg Institute, 2022). The general shortage picture worldwide is in our teacher shortage statistics.
3. Qualifications: Who Is Actually Teaching ESL
The good news hides in the certification data. 84.3% of public school teachers whose main assignment was English as a second language were in-field in 2020-21, meaning they held a degree or certification in the subject, up from 78.3% in 2011-12 (NCES, Digest Table 209.60). Out-of-field ESL teachers holding only a general credential fell from 19.3% to 13.1% over the same period. The specialist workforce has professionalized even as hiring got harder.
The problem is upstream and sideways. Few new teachers enter through ESL or bilingual programs: about 4% of 2016 teacher preparation completers majored in ESL instruction and 2% in bilingual, multilingual or multicultural education, according to federal data compiled by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (Education Week, 2018). And the overall workforce is linguistically narrow: just one in eight American teachers speaks a language other than English at home (The Century Foundation, How to Grow Bilingual Teacher Pathways, 2023).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Public school ESL teachers in-field, 2020-21 | 84.3% | NCES, Digest Table 209.60 |
| ESL teachers in-field, 2011-12 / 2015-16 / 2017-18 | 78.3% / 81.9% / 81.0% | NCES, Digest Table 209.60 |
| ESL teachers out-of-field with general credential, 2020-21 | 13.1% (19.3% in 2011-12) | NCES, Digest Table 209.60 |
| ESL teachers out-of-field with no relevant credential, 2020-21 | 2.6% (5.7% in 2017-18) | NCES, Digest Table 209.60 |
| Newly entering teachers not certified for their assignment, 2020-21 | 34% | Learning Policy Institute, The Federal Role in Ending Teacher Shortages, 2023 |
| Teacher prep completers majoring in ESL / bilingual education, 2016 | About 4% / 2% | AACTE data via Education Week, 2018 |
| Teachers who speak a non-English language at home | About 1 in 8 (12%) | The Century Foundation, 2023 |
| White share of teachers vs students | 79.9% vs 45.2% | The Century Foundation, 2023 |
Context note: in-field status covers teachers whose main assignment is ESL. It says nothing about the general education teachers who spend most of the school day with English learners, which is where the next section’s numbers come from. Private school ESL data did not meet NCES reporting standards in any year.
4. The Training Gap in General Classrooms
Most English learners spend most of the day with a general education teacher, which turns the shortage into a training problem as much as a hiring one. In a March 2026 EdWeek Research Center survey of 1,122 educators who work with English learners, 55% said the number of appropriately trained staff in their district or school was insufficient, rising to 67% in rural districts (Education Week, July 2026). Smaller districts reported the gap more often than large ones, which suggests scale, not just money, decides whether a district can employ a dedicated specialist.
RAND’s nationally representative spring 2024 survey shows why. About half of teachers serving multilingual learners felt not at all or only somewhat prepared to teach them, slightly less than one-third rated their curriculum materials adequate, and about 60% reported a moderate or major need for better materials (RAND, Many Teachers Feel Unprepared to Support Multilingual Learners, RRA134-29). Principals ranked English learner needs low when choosing professional learning, even in schools with large English learner populations.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| EL educators reporting insufficient trained staff, 2026 | 55% (n = 1,122) | EdWeek Research Center survey, March 2026 |
| Insufficient trained staff, by district size | Under 2,500 students 61%, mid-sized 57%, 10,000+ students 53% | EdWeek Research Center, 2026 |
| Insufficient trained staff, by locale | Rural 67%, suburban 54%, urban 49% | EdWeek Research Center, 2026 |
| EL teachers’ input in schoolwide decisions | 51% say to a minor extent or not at all | EdWeek Research Center, 2026 |
| Teachers serving multilingual learners who feel at most somewhat prepared | About half | RAND, RRA134-29 (spring 2024 data, published 2025) |
| Teachers rating curriculum materials adequate for multilingual learners | Slightly less than one-third | RAND, RRA134-29 |
| Teachers with moderate or major need for better materials | About 60% | RAND, RRA134-29 |
| States requiring school leader training on English learners | 13 | NCTQ via Education Week, 2025 |
Context note: Education Week’s summary of the RAND survey (about 7,500 teachers and 1,300 principals) describes the materials figures as about half inadequate and two-thirds needing more, slightly different from RAND’s own wording; we cite RAND’s text. Only four states (Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana and Maryland) require English learner and special education teachers to pass a licensure test on reading instruction (NCTQ via Education Week, 2025). NCES counts 832,200 English learners with disabilities, 15.8% of all English learners in fall 2021, which compounds the training gap; our special education identification statistics cover that population.
5. The Bilingual Pipeline: Programs Outrun Credentialed Teachers
Bilingual teachers are a narrower and harder hire than ESL teachers, because they need full teaching credentials plus academic fluency in a second language. Only 16.5% of US English learners are in classrooms that support their emerging bilingualism, about 440,000 in bilingual programs and nearly 405,000 in dual language immersion schools in 2019-20; the other 83.5% are in English as a second language programs (The Century Foundation, 2023). Program demand is not the constraint: DualLanguageSchools.org counted 4,894 dual language immersion programs in 2023, up from about 1,300 a decade earlier, and 48 states offer a Seal of Biliteracy. Our dual language immersion statistics track that growth.
California shows both the progress and the gap. The state issued a record 1,370 bilingual authorizations in 2023-24, up from 617 in 2014-15, a 2.2-fold increase (1,370 / 617 = 2.22), according to Commission on Teacher Credentialing data reported by The 74 in July 2026. Yet in 2022-23 the commission authorized only 1,011 new bilingual teachers across all languages, and just 7 in Vietnamese (CalMatters via The 74, December 2024). Roughly 10% of California’s approximately 1 million English learners are in bilingual classrooms, against about 40% in Texas.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ELs in bilingual or dual language classrooms, 2019-20 | 16.5% (about 440,000 bilingual, nearly 405,000 DLI) | The Century Foundation, 2023 |
| ELs in English as a second language programs | 83.5% | The Century Foundation, 2023 |
| Dual language immersion programs, 2023 | 4,894 (about 1,300 a decade earlier) | DualLanguageSchools.org via The Century Foundation, 2023 |
| California bilingual authorizations issued | 617 (2014-15) to 1,370 (2023-24) | California CTC via The 74, 2026 |
| California new bilingual teachers authorized, 2022-23 | 1,011 (7 in Vietnamese) | California CTC via CalMatters and The 74, 2024 |
| Share of ELs in bilingual classrooms | California about 10%, Texas about 40% | CalMatters via The 74, 2024 |
| Added cost of a California bilingual authorization | 1,500 to 4,000 dollars on top of a degree | The 74, 2026 |
| California grants for bilingual pipelines (AB 126) | 10 million dollars, grants up to 600,000 dollars | The 74, 2026 |
Context note: California’s Global California 2030 vision sets a goal of half of all K-12 students enrolled in bilingual education programs by 2030 (California Department of Education via The 74). Outcome research supports the push: a 2026 Rice University Kinder Institute study in Pasadena ISD, where about 35% of students are English learners, found students in new dual language programs scored 4 percentile points higher in reading and math than peers in transitional bilingual classes (K-12 Dive, June 2026).
6. Funding, Incentives and Federal Retreat
Pay and funding are the levers that move specialist supply, and both are moving the wrong way. Title III, the federal formula grant for English learners, was funded at 890 million dollars in FY 2026, and the administration’s FY 2027 budget proposed eliminating all of it (K-12 Dive, April 2026). The Education Department closed its Office of English Language Acquisition in May 2026, after the office had shrunk to one staff member from about 15 (K-12 Dive, May 2026). Districts use Title III for supplemental staff such as tutors and bilingual classroom aides (Education Week, July 2025), so cuts land on exactly the roles that feed the bilingual pipeline.
State incentives are thinning too. Research cited by NCTQ suggests incentives need to reach at least 7.5% of base pay, about 5,000 dollars, to move specialist supply, and in 2025 only Hawaii met that bar (Education Week, 2025). NCTQ’s 2026 pay analysis finds 17 states providing or requiring bonuses for shortage subjects, five fewer than in 2022 (Education Week, September 2026). State formulas vary widely: Michigan funds English learners at 1,998 dollars per student at the lowest proficiency band but 225 dollars for students scoring 3.0 to 3.9 on the WIDA test, and nothing above 4.0 (Chalkbeat Detroit via The 74, September 2026).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Title III appropriation, FY 2026 | 890 million dollars | K-12 Dive, 2026 |
| Proposed Title III funding, FY 2027 budget | 0 (full elimination within 8.5 billion dollars of K-12 cuts) | K-12 Dive, April 2026 |
| Office of English Language Acquisition staff before closure | About 15, with 1 left in place | ALAS via K-12 Dive, May 2026 |
| States with bonuses for shortage subjects | 17 in 2026, five fewer than 2022 | NCTQ via Education Week, 2026 |
| States differentiating pay for hard-to-staff schools | 13, down from 28 in 2022 | NCTQ via Education Week, 2026 |
| States boosting minimum pay for high-need subjects or specialty certifications by 5,000 dollars or more | 4 (Alabama, Hawaii, Texas, Utah) | NCTQ via Education Week, 2026 |
| Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence grants announced in 2023 | Over 18 million dollars | US Department of Education via The 74, 2023 |
| Michigan EL funding per student by WIDA band, 2026-27 | 1,998 dollars (1.0 to 1.9), 1,379 (2.0 to 2.9), 225 (3.0 to 3.9), 0 (4.0+) | Chalkbeat Detroit via The 74, 2026 |
Context note: Michigan’s 2021 School Finance Research Collaborative study recommended 3,500 to 7,500 dollars per English learner, and a 2025 EPIC report found nearly half of Michigan English learners still in specialized programs after six years (via The 74). Service gaps also show up in federal counts: 93.1% of English learners nationally received language instruction program services in fall 2021, but reported rates were 48.9% in Georgia and 55.3% in Illinois (NCES, Digest Table 204.25).
Summary: Bilingual & ESL Teacher Shortage by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Public schools with ESL/bilingual openings that had difficulty filling them | 32% (2020-21) | NCES, Condition of Education 2023 |
| Public schools hiring for at least one opening | 80% (2020-21) vs 66% (2011-12) | NCES, Condition of Education 2023 |
| Years EL teachers ranked among top 5 shortage fields | At least 20 | NCTQ via Education Week, 2025 |
| States with an EL teacher shortage, 2016 | At least 32 | US Department of Education via Education Week, 2018 |
| Positions unfilled or held by not fully certified teachers, 2024-25 | 425,412 (about 1 in 8) | Learning Policy Institute, 2026 |
| English learners, fall 2021 | 5,263,596 (10.6%) | NCES, Digest Table 204.20 |
| EL growth, fall 2011 to fall 2021 | +628,411 (+13.6%) | NCES, Digest Table 204.20 |
| Kindergarten EL share | 14.7% | NCES, Condition of Education 2024 |
| Public school ESL teachers in-field | 84.3% (2020-21) | NCES, Digest Table 209.60 |
| Prep completers majoring in ESL / bilingual | About 4% / 2% (2016) | AACTE via Education Week, 2018 |
| Teachers speaking a non-English language at home | About 1 in 8 | The Century Foundation, 2023 |
| EL educators reporting insufficient trained staff | 55% (rural 67%) | EdWeek Research Center, 2026 |
| Teachers at most somewhat prepared for multilingual learners | About half | RAND, RRA134-29, 2025 |
| ELs in bilingual-supporting classrooms | 16.5% | The Century Foundation, 2023 |
| California bilingual authorizations | 617 to 1,370 (2014-15 to 2023-24) | California CTC via The 74, 2026 |
| Title III appropriation, FY 2026 | 890 million dollars | K-12 Dive, 2026 |
| FY 2027 proposal for Title III | Full elimination | K-12 Dive, 2026 |
| States with shortage-subject bonuses | 17 (five fewer than 2022) | NCTQ via Education Week, 2026 |
| ELs receiving language instruction services | 93.1% (Georgia 48.9%, Illinois 55.3%) | NCES, Digest Table 204.25 |
Methodology and Sources
Every figure above was read during research for this article in a government table, an institutional report or a news article that names its underlying study. Federal data come from NCES; teacher survey data come from RAND and the EdWeek Research Center; state pipeline data come from California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing as reported by The 74 and CalMatters. Statistics circulating on vendor and advocacy blogs without a primary document were excluded.
- NCES Digest of Education Statistics: Table 204.20, English learners by state, Table 204.25, English learners receiving LIEP services, Table 209.60, teachers by field and in-field status
- NCES: Condition of Education, English Learners in Public Schools, Condition of Education, Teacher Openings in Elementary and Secondary Schools (updated November 2023), Fast Facts, English learners
- Learning Policy Institute: State Teacher Shortages 2026 Update (July 2026), The Federal Role in Ending Teacher Shortages (2023)
- RAND: Many Teachers Feel Unprepared to Support Multilingual Learners, RRA134-29 (2025), summarized in Education Week, June 2025
- EdWeek Research Center: How Schools Are Navigating the English-Learner Teacher Shortage (July 2026), How Schools Serve English Learners Today, in Charts (April 2026)
- National Council on Teacher Quality, as reported by Education Week: These Maps Reveal Gaps in Special Education, English-Learner Teacher Supply (September 2025), States Roll Back Pay Incentives for Teachers in High-Need Areas (September 2026)
- The Century Foundation: How to Grow Bilingual Teacher Pathways (August 2023)
- California pipeline: The 74, Short Thousands of Bilingual Teachers, California Schools Turn to High School Students (July 2026), CalMatters via The 74, California Banned Bilingual Education for Almost 20 Years (December 2024)
- Federal funding and policy: K-12 Dive, FY 2027 budget (April 2026), K-12 Dive, Office of English Language Acquisition closure (May 2026), The 74, Hawkins Centers of Excellence grants (June 2023)
- State funding: Chalkbeat Detroit via The 74, Michigan English learner funding (September 2026), citing EPIC and the Michigan School Finance Research Collaborative
- Research: Nguyen, Lam and Bruno, Is there a national teacher shortage? (EdWorkingPapers, 2022); Rice University Kinder Institute dual language study via K-12 Dive (June 2026); AACTE preparation data and the 2016 federal shortage count via Education Week (2018)
- Data watch: The Department of Education’s Teacher Shortage Areas system (tsa.ed.gov) renders in a JavaScript application, and ed.gov, NCELA and the Migration Policy Institute blocked automated access, so no current state-by-state count of ESL or bilingual shortage designations is cited; the 32-state figure is from 2016 and is the most recent national count we could read. Most recent available data for hiring difficulty (NCES) and ESL teacher qualifications is 2020-21 from the National Teacher and Principal Survey, and English learner counts are from fall 2021; NCTQ’s 5.3 million figure is labeled 2022-23, a later year than the NCES tables. RAND’s own wording on materials (slightly less than one-third adequate, about 60% in need) differs from Education Week’s summary (about half inadequate, two-thirds in need); we cite RAND. The NCTQ findings were read through Education Week because the underlying NCTQ reports could not be located on nctq.org. California authorization counts come from CTC data as reported by The 74 and CalMatters, not from the CTC directly. The Georgia (48.9%) and Illinois (55.3%) service rates are state-reported counts and may reflect reporting differences rather than service gaps alone. The AACTE completer shares (2016) are older baselines. NCTQ’s 2025 finding that only Hawaii offers incentives of at least 5,000 dollars (specialist bonuses) and its 2026 count of four states raising minimum pay by 5,000 dollars for high-need subjects or certifications measure different policies, so they are not contradictory. Michigan district and funding figures come from Chalkbeat Detroit reporting rather than the state budget document.
Last updated: October 3, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when NCES publishes fall 2022 and later English learner tables in the Digest of Education Statistics and results from the 2023-24 National Teacher and Principal Survey.