Chapter 71A

Section 1. Findings and Declarations The People of Massachusetts find and declare that: (a) The English language is the common public language of the United States of America and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is spoken by the vast majority of Massachusetts residents, a…

Section 10. Teachers and administrators assigned to a language acquisition program shall be properly qualified under state law for the program type. The department shall establish endorsements for educators who have completed coursework and field-based experience to provide instr…

Section 11. The department shall develop: (i) benchmarks for attaining English proficiency for English learners, (ii) guidelines to assist school districts in the identification of English learners who do not meet benchmarks and (iii) an English learning success template for use …

Section 12. School districts shall, at least annually, inform the parents or legal guardians of English learners of their rights to: (i) choose a language acquisition program among those offered by the school district under section 4; (ii) request a new language acquisition progr…

Section 2. Definitions As used in this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise: ''Commissioner'', the commissioner of elementary and secondary education. ''Department'', the department of elementary and secondar…

Section 3. Census School districts shall annually ascertain, under regulations prescribed by the department, the number of English learners within their school system in grades pre-kindergarten through twelve, and shall classify them according to grade level, the language of whic…

Section 4. English language education [ First paragraph effective until August 5, 2025. For text effective August 5, 2025, see below.] All children in Massachusetts public schools who are not proficient in English shall be taught English. Subject to the exceptions in section 12, …

Section 5. (a) The parent or legal guardian of a student eligible to enroll in an English learner program may select any available English learner program offered by the school district; provided, however, that the program shall be appropriate for the age and grade level of the s…

Section 6. Legal standing and parental enforcement (a) As set forth in Section 4 of this chapter, all school children are to be provided at their assigned school with an English language public education. The parent or legal guardian of any school child shall have legal standing …

Section 6A. A school district or charter school operating a language acquisition program for English learners serving 100 or more English learners or in which English learners comprise at least 5 per cent of the district's or charter school's student population, whichever is less…

Section 7. Standardized testing for monitoring education programs Each English learner shall participate, consistent with section 1I of chapter 69, in the statewide assessment system. A nationally-normed test of English proficiency shall similarly be administered at least once ea…

Section 7A. The department shall conduct on-site visits to school districts at least once every 6 years for the purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of programs serving English learners and to validate evidence of educational outcomes. The evaluation shall include, but shall …

Section 8. Community-based English tutoring In furtherance of its constitutional and legal obligation to provide all children with an adequate education, the state shall encourage family members and others to provide personal English language tutoring to such children as are Engl…