LONG BEACH, CA – October 27, 2025 – Today, Californians Together and the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University released Minding the Gap: How Do New LCAP Requirements Address Equity for English Learners?, a new installment of a multi-year research series that examines the effectiveness of Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP) in supporting multilingual learners and reducing disparities in outcomes and opportunities. Twelve years into the Local Control Funding Formula, and five years after the adoption of the California English Learner Roadmap, our report asks if the state is moving from policy promises to transformative outcomes for English learners.
Recommendations from previous installments of this series addressed widespread implementation gaps, and the lack of transparent data that is needed for understanding the unique needs of multilingual learners. Our new report assesses how districts across the state are acting on previous recommendations, and renewing their focus on equity.
Our report found that many district plans contain generic goals and metrics and, similarly, only half of the district plans set goals that are specific to English learners. These plans lack the accelerated growth targets needed to improve outcomes for the students. Although plans mention long term English learners, only one articulated specific goals for this student group. The report authors found that, while recent policy developments position California to improve outcomes for multilingual learners, LCAPs lack the depth necessary for education leaders to fully implement the potential of visionary plans like the California English Learner Roadmap.
“The new LCAP requirements offer an important opportunity to better understand and address the needs of English learners–but districts must do more to ensure these plans translate into real action. It’s not enough to simply claim an equity focus; plans should clearly define goals and outline a roadmap for achieving them. This report provides concrete recommendations that districts can adopt to move from compliance to transformation–turning their LCAP’s into true guides for improving education for our state’s 1.1 million English learners,” said Martha Hernandez, Executive Director of Californians Together.
While progress has been made to improve family engagement and increase transparency, there is still room to grow to ensure that plans are actionable, and that education partners are addressing equity gaps. From strengthening accountability to supporting administrators and educators, districts must ensure that their plans lead to meaningful improvements for their students, no matter what language they speak with their families.
Our findings also revealed that, over the years, districts have been working to improve LCAP evidence that sharpens the focus on English/Multilingual learners. We include three district spotlights that serve as examples for differentiated growth targets across different types of metrics, comprehensive engagement of educational partners and LTEL programming that strive towards coherent local policy planning.
The report concludes with recommendations for districts and the state to ensure that they can create plans that are actionable equity tools.
For more information, please email Californians Together Director of Communications Tamara Orozco at [email protected].
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About Californians Together
Californians Together, a coalition of education, civil rights, parent/caregiver, community, and advocacy organizations, champions the educational success of California’s more than 1.1 million English learners. Californians Together serves as a trusted voice, source of expertise, and steadfast advocate standing for the educational rights of access for California’s English learners, immigrants, and linguistically and culturally diverse students. We seek to overcome and transform the harms of systemic racial, language, and cultural inequality in education and to close opportunity gaps from early childhood through post-secondary education. The coalition exposes timely issues, advocates for cutting-edge policy and practice solutions grounded in research, and mobilizes to provide capacity-building support to multiple levels of the educational system.
About Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University
The Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) was established in 2006 with the purpose of improving educational outcomes for English Learner and Multilingual students. CEEL has a strong reputation for the consistent quality and rigor of its work, its pioneering approach to integrating principles of equity and inclusion into language education, and a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary approach. CEEL’s unique trifold strategy of research, policy, and professional learning informs and influences leadership and instructional practices for California’s 1.1 million ELs and the nation’s 5 million English Learners.