“Out of Reach” exposes urgent gaps and calls for a comprehensive statewide strategy 

NEW YORK, NY — EdTrust-New York released a new report, Out of Reach: The State of Multilingual Learner Literacy in New York, which finds that the state’s recent literacy reforms fail to meaningfully include multilingual learners, despite their share of the student population and persistently low literacy outcomes. 

As states across the country expand literacy policies aligned with the science of reading, New York has joined at least 45 states in advancing new legislation, with more than half passing laws since 2023. However, the report finds that most state leaders fail to adequately incorporate the needs of English Language Learners and Multilingual Learners (ELLs/MLLs) into these reforms. Only four states explicitly include research-based literacy practices for multilingual learners in their policies, and no state incorporates bilingualism or biliteracy into its literacy legislation.   

The report highlights stark outcomes for multilingual learners across New York: only 3% of fourth-grade multilingual learners achieved reading proficiency on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and just 5% of eighth-grade multilingual learners reached proficiency on the 2025 New York State English Language Arts Assessment. 

Although New York has a strong legacy of supporting multilingual learners, through initiatives such as the Multilingual Literacy Screener, the Blueprint for ELL Success, and the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework, the report finds that current literacy efforts remain fragmented and unevenly implemented statewide. Most critically, recent reforms do not systematically center multilingual learners. 

“New York has taken long-overdue steps to improve literacy, but progress without the inclusion of multilingual students is not equity. State leaders must act urgently to ensure multilingual learners are centered not sidelined in the policies designed to improve literacy outcomes,” said Arlen Benjamin-Gomez, executive director at EdTrust-New York. 

The report identifies key gaps in current policy: 

• The state’s current teacher training in the science of reading does not adequately cover evidence-based practices for multilingual learners. 

• Current curriculum requirements do not ensure that districts assess whether curricula meet the needs of multilingual learners or align with culturally responsive frameworks. 

• The state currently makes its recently released literacy guidance optional for districts, including recommendations for supporting multilingual learners, which results in inconsistent implementation and limited impact. 

• Educator preparation programs fail to adequately train teachers in bilingualism, biliteracy, and language-affirming literacy practices. 

• Assessment and intervention systems fail to incorporate the language-informed approaches needed to effectively support multilingual learners. 

Despite these challenges, EdTrust-New York highlights the strong foundation the state can build on and points to models from other states that intentionally integrate multilingual learners into literacy policy. 

The report calls on state leaders to adopt a comprehensive statewide strategy that centers multilingual learners in literacy reform. It urges the state to invest in high-quality bilingual instructional materials, strengthen English as New Language resources, expand biliteracy pathways, improve educator preparation and professional learning, build leadership skills to assess multilingual learner data, and develop language-informed assessment and support systems. 

EdTrust-New York also urges policymakers, educators, and advocates to take coordinated, system-level action to ensure all students, of all language backgrounds, have access to high-quality literacy instruction and the opportunity to become strong readers and writers.  

In the next report in this series, we will highlight examples of effective literacy policies supporting multilingual learners.  

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About EdTrust-New York 

EdTrust-New York is dedicated to eliminating equity and opportunity gaps that hinder students from reaching their full potential. We focus on ensuring that students of color, including Black, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander students, and those from low-income backgrounds achieve high levels of success from early childhood through college. For more information, visit EdTrustNY.org.