Maine has one of the highest non-English speaking student populations north of Boston. According to the Portland Press Herald, South Portland High School has four times the state diversity average. For many of these students, English is not their first language. There are about 36 common languages in Maine ESL classrooms.
Maine has some of the highest ESL standards in the country. There are some advantages to the rigorous program and some fallbacks. One of the advantages to the program is that many students have strong English skills. One of the fallbacks is that a student can be very bright and even succeed in AP courses, but are unable to score high enough on their ACCESS, an ESL standardized test, to be moved out of ESL courses. This can leave students feeling discouraged and might encourage them not to take AP courses.
References
Bouchard, K. (2017, January 23). English language learners, special education students increase in south [Portland. Retrieved from pressherald.com: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/01/23/english-language-learners-students-receiving-special-education-increase-in-south-portland/
Feinberg, R. (2017, May 16). Teachers say maine’s standards for English language learners are too high. Retrieved from bangordailynews.com: https://bangordailynews.com/2017/05/16/education/teachers-say-maines-standards-for-english-language-learners-are-too-tough/
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