Child Development

450 APPENDIX A

TABLE 9

Difficulty Speaking English: Children Ages 5 to 17 Who Speak a Language Other than English at Home, and Who are Reported

to Have Difficulty Speaking Englisha by Race, Hispanic Origin, and Region, Selected Years 1979– 1995

Characteristic 1979 1989 1992 1995 b

Children who speak another language at home

Number (in millions) 3.8 5.3 6.4 6.7

Percentage of children ages 5– 17 8.5 12.6 14.2 14.1

Race and Hispanic origin

White, non-Hispanic 3.2 3.5 3.7 3.6

Black, non-Hispanic 1.3 2.4 4.2 3.0

Hispanicc 75.1 71.2 76.6 73.9

Other, non-Hispanicd 44.1 53.4 58.3 45.5

Regione

Northeast 10.5 13.5 16.2 15.1

Midwest 3.7 4.9 5.6 5.9

South 6.8 10.7 11.1 11.7

West 17.0 24.2 27.2 26.4

Children who speak another language at home

and have difficulty speaking English

Number (in millions) 1.3 1.9 2.2 2.4

Percentage of children ages 5– 17 2.8 4.4 4.9 5.1

Race and Hispanic origin

White, non-Hispanic 0.5 0.8 0.6 0.7

Black, non-Hispanic 0.3 0.5 1.3 0.9

Hispanicc 28.7 27.4 29.9 31.0

Other, non-Hispanicd 19.8 20.4 21.0 14.1

Regione

Northeast 2.9 4.8 5.3 5.0

Midwest 1.1 1.3 1.6 2.3

South 2.2 3.8 3.5 3.4

West 6.5 8.8 10.4 11.4

aRespondents were asked if the children in the household spoke a language other than English at home and how well they could speak English. Categories used

for reporting were “Very well,” “Well,” “Not well,” and “Not at all.” All those reported to speak English less than “Very well” were considered to have difficulty

speaking English based on an evaluation of the English-speaking ability of a sample of the children in the 1980s.

bNumbers in 1995 may reflect changes in the Current Population Survey because of newly instituted computer-assisted interviewing techniques and/or because of

the change in the population controls to the 1990 Census-based estimates with adjustments.

cPersons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

dMost in this category are Asians/Pacific Islanders, but American Indian/Alaska Native children also are included.

eRegions: Northeast includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Midwest

includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. South includes Alabama,

Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,

Virginia, and West Virginia. West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and

Wyoming.

Note: All nonresponses to the language questions are excluded from the tabulations.

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, October (1992 and 1995) and November (1979 and 1989) Current Population Surveys. Tabulated by the National

Center for Education Statistics.

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