PACE Policy Brief 15 1 v6

Nearly 1 out of 4 students in California schools is learning English, and 85 percent of English learners live in low-income households. Too often, they encounter insufficient academic supports, ill-prepared teachers, and less rigorous coursework. A number of districts are breaking this pattern; we feature 11 with better achievement, language acquisition, and reclassification patterns. Some of these district leaders share practices that have contributed to positive results for their english learners. District and state leaders can take action to better serve english learners by capitalizing on the opportunities afforded by the local control Funding Formula and the common core State Standards.

education policy analysis archives, 2003

The Williams vs the State of California class action suit on behalf of poor children in that state argues that California provides a fundamentally inequitable education to students based on wealth and language status. This article, an earlier version of which was prepared as background to that case, reviews the conditions of schooling for English learners in the state with the largest population of such students, totaling nearly 1.6 million in 2003, and comprising about 40 percent of nation’s English learners. We argue, with evidence, that there are seven aspects of the schooling of English language learners where students receive an education that is demonstrably inferior to that of English speakers. For example, these students are assigned to less qualified teachers, are provided with inferior curriculum and less time to cover it, are housed in inferior facilities where they are often segregated from English speaking peers, and are assessed by invalid instruments that provide litt...

The proportion of California's limited English speaking students is increasing rapidly. Language minority students represent more than one-third of all students in California public schools. The most central educational outcome for these students is English proficiency. Research varies on how long it takes for students to become English proficient, and some data indicate that even the most successful English learners may not master the levels of English required in advanced academic settings. Two issues dominate current concerns about educational opportunities for English learners (instructional programs and teacher quality). There has been considerable controversy over the nature of programs provided to English learners in California, focusing on whether instruction should be in the native language while learning English or simply in English. California passed Proposition 227, which requires a one-year English immersion program rather than native language instruction. Early ind...

2002

UCLA/IDEA UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, & Access www.ucla-idea.org Williams Watch Series-Gándara & Rumberger wws-rr005-1002 ____________________________________ UCLA/IDEA www.ucla-idea.org 1 English learners comprise one-fourth of the entire public school population in California, and one out of three students in the elementary grades (Rumberger & Gándara, 2000, Table 1). In total, they represent nearly 1.5 million students. Of these, the largest percentage-approximately 80 percent-speak Spanish and 88 percent of the students speak one of four major languages. There are very few California schools that report having no English learners among their student population. Today, the typical California school is composed of both English learners and English speakers, and in many schools more than one-quarter of the student body is not fluent in English. Although most English learners are found at the elementary school level, a larger proportion of English learners (hereafter also referred to as ELs or EL students) is found in secondary schools than commonly believed. One-third of elementary students are ELs, but more than 18 percent of secondary school students are also English learners (Rumberger & Gándara, 2000, Table 1). Proportionately, the number of English learners in secondary schools has been growing at a faster rate than the number in elementary schools (California Department of Education, Language Census 2001). The increase in the population of these secondary level English learners presents a particular challenge for both the students and the schools that serve them. This is principally because older children have less time to acquire both English and academic skills in order to get ready for high school graduation and to prepare for post-Williams Watch Series-Gándara & Rumberger wws-rr005-1002 Williams Watch Series-Gándara & Rumberger wws-rr005-1002 ____________________________________ UCLA/IDEA www.ucla-idea.org 4 60859). The need for improving the education provided by California's high schools is undeniable. Although accountability measures may be necessary to this effort, there is early evidence that the HSEE presents exceptionally high stakes for EL students. By the end of their sophomore year, students from the class of 2004 had been given two opportunities to pass the HSEE. Thus far, the majority of EL students have yet to pass the exam. Whereas 48 percent of all students had passed the exam by the end of their sophomore year, only 19 percent of English learners had passed the exam (California Department of Education, 2002, Attachment 1). Stanford 9 Between the years 1998 and 2001, the State used the SAT9-a norm-referenced, Englishonly achievement test-as the only metric by which to track the academic performance of all of its students, including English learners, who by definition, do not understand the test well enough to make it a valid form of assessment. 1 Given that the state has committed itself to the view that the SAT9 should be used across language groups, it ought to be concerned with cross-language group achievement comparisons. Therefore, in spite of the fact that we disagree with the State's judgment in this use of the test, we provide an analysis of the achievement of English learners vis-à-vis their English-speaking peers. A persistent gap in test scores is a major factor in the school experience of English learners. As a group they continue to perform more poorly than English-speaking students throughout their entire school careers. This is clearly illustrated by the SAT9 English reading scores across grade levels (see Figure 1). As expected, English learners who, by definition, are Williams Watch Series-Gándara & Rumberger wws-rr005-1002 ____________________________________ UCLA/IDEA www.ucla-idea.org 6 Even though the previous analysis shows a sizeable and growing achievement gap between English origin and non-English origin students across grade levels, there are some suggestions in the data that the gap has narrowed slightly. To investigate this issue, we examined SAT9 reading test scale scores between the years 1998 and 2001 compiled by Parrish et al. (2002) as part of their year two evaluation of Proposition 227. Scale scores show growth in achievement over time based on a common metric. Thus it provides a good indication of the amount of learning that has taken place over time. The evaluation team had access to individual student test scores for all the students in California for the years 1998 through 2001 by language classification. 2 The evaluation team examined changes in test scores between 1998 and 2001 for each grade level and for three synthetic cohorts of students: 3 (1) a cohort of students who were enrolled in grade 2 in 1998,

Intercultural Development Research Association, 2009

An essential component of the "American dream," the U.S. public education system carries the considerable responsibility of preparing a richly diverse student population for academic proficiency, economic mobility, and life success. Given the dynamic and evolving nature of the nation's racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity, it should not be surprising that many American schoolchildren speak a language other than English at home. Nearly one in every ten public school students (roughly 4.5 million of 50 million total students) were classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) during the 2010-11 school year (National Center for Education Statistics 2013).

2001

After first verifying the hypothesis that federally supported Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program schools have a disproportionately high English language learner (ELL) population, this report inquires into the responsiveness of CSRD to ELLs, focusing on the role of state education agencies (SEAs). In their roles as coordinators of CSRD implementation within each state, a role that has included soliciting and judging school CSRD applications, SEAs have had a central role in CSRD. By manually chronicling and analyzing every reference to "Limited-English-Proficiency" (LEP), "English Language Learner" (ELL), "English as a Second Language" (ESL), "English for Speakers of Other Languages" (ESOL), "language minority," "Spanish-speaking students," "Hispanic students," "bilingual education," "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages" (TESOL), "Title VII," and "non-English-proficient" in seven states' CSRD applications and requests-for-proposals (RFPs), we examined whether those states remedied three important ELL-related CSRD oversights. 2 ♦ We checked to see if states recognized and moved to remedy the unnecessary dichotomization between the school reform movement and the movement to make schools ELL responsive. This included asking if states recognized and sought to remedy the fact that the "research base" supporting most CSRD models did not include testing the models with ELLs (risking a mismatch between school plans and ELL needs). ♦ We checked whether SEAs ever reversed the typical pattern of first designing a reform and then adapting it to ELLs to instead adapt a program for a broader audience that originated as an initiative for ELLs. For example, we checked for evidence that SEAs had tied CSRD to ideas and programs from Title VII, Migrant Education, or other programs initially designed for ELLs. ♦ Finally, we considered whether SEAs overtly addressed the current reality that ELLs fare as poorly in school as any identifiable population there and, relatedly, whether they indicated any capacity/willingness to learn from ELL education success stories that might emerge at schools undertaking comprehensive reform. B-2 ELLs, CSRD, and the Role of State Departments of Education ELLs, CSRD, and the Role of State Departments of Education B-3

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 2005

After first verifying the hypothesis that federally supported Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program schools have a disproportionately high English language learner (ELL) population, this report inquires into the responsiveness of CSRD to ELLs, focusing on the role of state education agencies (SEAs). In their roles as coordinators of CSRD implementation within each state, a role that has included soliciting and judging school CSRD applications, SEAs have had a central role in CSRD. By manually chronicling and analyzing every reference to "Limited-English-Proficiency" (LEP), "English Language Learner" (ELL), "English as a Second Language" (ESL), "English for Speakers of Other Languages" (ESOL), "language minority," "Spanish-speaking students," "Hispanic students," "bilingual education," "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages" (TESOL), "Title VII," and "non-English-proficient" in seven states' CSRD applications and requests-for-proposals (RFPs), we examined whether those states remedied three important ELL-related CSRD oversights. 2 ♦ We checked to see if states recognized and moved to remedy the unnecessary dichotomization between the school reform movement and the movement to make schools ELL responsive. This included asking if states recognized and sought to remedy the fact that the "research base" supporting most CSRD models did not include testing the models with ELLs (risking a mismatch between school plans and ELL needs). ♦ We checked whether SEAs ever reversed the typical pattern of first designing a reform and then adapting it to ELLs to instead adapt a program for a broader audience that originated as an initiative for ELLs. For example, we checked for evidence that SEAs had tied CSRD to ideas and programs from Title VII, Migrant Education, or other programs initially designed for ELLs. ♦ Finally, we considered whether SEAs overtly addressed the current reality that ELLs fare as poorly in school as any identifiable population there and, relatedly, whether they indicated any capacity/willingness to learn from ELL education success stories that might emerge at schools undertaking comprehensive reform. B-2 ELLs, CSRD, and the Role of State Departments of Education ELLs, CSRD, and the Role of State Departments of Education B-3

Policy Analysis For California Education Pace, 2012

2006

This paper focuses on linguistic minority (LM) students who come from households where a language other than English is spoken. In particular, it examines the amount and type of resources English learners (ELs)-those LM students who are not yet proficient in Englishneed in order to have the opportunity to meet the same achievement standards as other students. This report addresses the following specific questions: