Unforgetting Educational Debt: Systemic Drivers of English Literacy Inequities for Multilingual Learners

Multilingual learners (MLs) remain persistently underserved in U.S. schools, yet systemic conditions shaping their English literacy outcomes are underexamined. Grounded in ecological systems theory and educational debt, this study used multilevel modeling of 2023 to 2024 data from 1,929 Georgia schools nested within 205 districts to examine whether chronic absenteeism, teacher readiness, instructional investment per teacher, and per-student investment predicted MLs’ Georgia Milestones English Language Arts performance. Within districts, higher chronic absenteeism (β = −.368, p < .001) and more underqualified teachers (β = −.431, p < .001) predicted lower scores, whereas higher instructional investment per teacher predicted higher scores (β = .234, p < .001). In between-district models, chronic absenteeism and per-pupil expenditure were significant, but these effects became non-significant after school-level conditions were controlled. Findings reframe ML English literacy gaps as institutional failures requiring policy attention to attendance infrastructure, teacher preparation, and instructional investment equity.