Time to English Proficiency and Relationship Between English Proficiency and Academic Achievement: Analysis of Long-Term Linguistic and Academic Outcomes for English Learners

• In Event: How, When, and Why Are English Language Learners Reclassified as Fluent English Proficient? New Methods for Establishing and Examining English Language Learner Assessment, Accountability, and Equity Policies

Abstract

Objective:
Most students classified as English learners upon school entry eventually demonstrate sufficient English fluency to be reclassified. However, limited research exists about the time that English learners take to acquire English proficiency and the factors that are related to students’ English acquisition trajectories.

More rigorous analysis of the normative time required to achieve English proficiency is especially vital because accountability systems establish targets for ELs’ English proficiency development. At present, these targets are not empirically grounded. This study addresses the following three questions:
1) How long does it take students to be reclassified as proficient in English?
2) What individual-, family-, and school-level factors are related to variation in time to reclassification?
3) What is the relationship between time to reclassification and long-term academic outcomes, including graduation and results on the California High School Exit Exam?

Methods
Discrete-time survival analysis is used to calculate the likelihood that students will be reclassified as fluent in English over time. From these baseline discrete-time hazard models, individual-, family-, and school-level factors associated with differences in time to reclassification are explored by introducing predictors into the model.

Data Sources
This study relies on nine years of longitudinal student-level data from two California school districts, the Los Angeles Unified School District and a medium-sized Bay Area district. For each district, the analysis includes student-level demographic and achievement data for all students enrolled in the district from the 2002-2010 test years.

To explore factors related to time to reclassification beyond the variables available in the quantitative dataset, the study also utilizes qualitative data drawn from interviews, student shadowing, and analysis of school records for a sample of 15 students in one of the districts. All students in this subsample were initially identified as English learners upon school entry and would be expected to be in twelfth grade in 2010-11 based on their birthdates.

Preliminary Results
Data analysis for this study is ongoing. Preliminary results indicate that for the cohort of students who entered LAUSD as English learners in 2001-02 and have remained in the district, 74% had been reclassified as proficient in English by 8th grade. Further analysis will yield more sophisticated estimates of time to reclassification, as well as the significance of individual-, family-, and school-level factors in time to reclassification and the relationship between time to reclassification and long-term academic achievement outcomes. Analysis of data from the qualitative sample points to a complex array of influences on students’ time to reclassification and long-term academic outcomes, including the linguistic diversity of students’ peer groups and the educational trajectories of older siblings.

Author

• Karen D. Thompson, Oregon State University