The 2001 reauthorization of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)," represented a turning point in federal policy for the education of English Learners (ELs) in U.S. public schools. At the center of the changes in the 2001 reauthorization of the "ESEA" lie the English language proficiency (ELP) standards. These ELP standards must define expectations for English language proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening in kindergarten through grade 12, and provide the basis for curriculum, instruction and assessment to support ELs' acquisition of academic English language proficiency and attainment of the academic content standards. This survey considered states' approaches to meeting the "ESEA" requirements regarding ELP standards, and addressed four basic questions. To address these questions, EL experts from edCount, LLC, examined the ELP standards in use in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia during the 2008-09 school year. Because 20 states (including the District of Columbia) were using the ELP standards developed by the World-class Instructional Design and Assessment Consortium (WIDA) at that time, the findings presented below represent variation across 32 sets of standards: the state-specific standards in use in 31 states and the WIDA standards in use in 20 states. While this survey provides new information about the state of ELP standards, it did not yield evidence of whether ELP standards are actually effective in guiding instruction or producing improvements in student learning.