Teaching is not a political thing. As a teacher, we teach the children who sit in front us.

Jan Lanier, Tennessee's English as a Second Language coordinator. Federal law requires schools to provide equal opportunities to English language learners. In the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, students whose first language is not English now make up 22 percent of the district's enrollment. The district's recent efforts to educate ELL students helped in exceeding state targets for English proficiency and completion of special programs.