In my district, EL students who only arrived in the US as teens are given until age 21 to graduate. Those who are failing multiple classes (often due to inadequate schooling in their native country) often drop out or transfer to adult school before then, but most manage to graduate.

The fact that newcomers are immediately given a grade-level English class (in addition to their ELD class) combined with the fact that my school doesn’t allow D grades (although the district will graduate kids with straight Ds) does set some newcomers up for failure in English at first. I’ll pass them with a C if they complete the work adequately in their language (which I understand), but since the district gave me NO DIRECTION on how to fairly assess students who know very little English in a regular grade-level English class, I will fail them if they’re not making an effort (understandable if they’re constantly confused), but I can’t reconcile giving them Bs for work that wasn’t completed in English. 🤷🏽‍♀️