This year’s Quality Counts report focused on the growing population of English-Language Learners in the United States.

Released yesterday, the Quality Counts 2009: Portrait of a Population, How English-Language Learners Are Putting Schools to the Test is available online with individual state profiles and a slew of national data.

New York fared pretty well, scoring an overall rating of B compared to the country’s overall C rating.

The report looked at several areas that affect the ELL population. New York beat the average state in each category, scoring highest in “standards, assessments and accountability.”

• Chance for success (2009): New York, B; Average State, C+

• Transitions and alignment (2009): New York, B+; Average State, C

• School finance (2009): New York, B+; Average State, C+

• K-12 achievement (2008): New York, C-; Average State, D+

• Standards, assessments and accountability (2008): New York, A; Average State, B

• The teaching profession (2008): New York, C+, Average State, C

The report found that the ELL population continues to grow, particularly in some Southeast and Midwest states.

Nationally, the growth was 57 percent between the 1995-96 and 2005-06 school years. That’s an increase to 5.1 million from 3.2 million ELLs.

Nearly two-thirds of all ELLs are native born, with at least one parent born in the United States or its territories.

Mexico accounts for the majority of ELL youths born outside the United States, at 54 percent. Approximately 68 percent of ELLs from 5 to 17 are Hispanic, while 14 percent are non-Hispanic whites and 13 percent are of Asian or Pacific Islander descent

When it comes to achievement, the national gap between ELLs and all public school students is “significant” on both national and state tests, according to the report.

Only 9.6 percent of 4th and 8th grade ELLs scored “proficient” or higher in mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2007, compared with 34.8 percent of students as a whole.

The gap was similar on the 2007 NAEP reading test: 5.6 percent of ELLs scored proficient compared with a national average of 30.4 percent.

The pattern was the same on state-developed assessments. The average gap between ELLs and students as a whole in 2007 was 23.5 percentage points in math and 32.3 percentage points in reading.