This San Diego Tribune story about improvements in the English mastery of San Diego children.

School-age children from Spanish-speaking households in San Diego County and throughout California are gaining English fluency at record rates, while fluency among adults – especially seniors – is slipping, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

From 2000 to 2005, San Diego County's percentage of children ages 5 to 17 from Spanish-speaking households who speak English “very well” has jumped to 71 percent from 60 percent.

That is great news. I had recently been surprised to hear that many of our English Learner students are actually second and third generation Americans rather than those students who have just come to the United States. I was getting a bit depressed that these young generations weren't finding it necessary to learn English. So, I'm very pleased to hear that at least this statistic shows us that English skills are improving.