State and District Capacity to serve English Language Learners

• In Event: English Language Learner Policy Implementation at the State and Local Levels: The National Evaluation of Title III

Abstract

State education agencies and school districts shoulder many responsibilities for Title III implementation, including the identification and placement of English language learners (ELLs), the adoption and use of English language proficiency (ELP) standards and assessments, development of accountability measures for Title III districts, and management of data systems to support decision-making. These tasks require internal capacity on the part of states and districts—with regard to staffing, funding and infrastructure.
State capacity reflects the ability of a state education agency to perform key implementation functions and depends on a broad spectrum of resources, including but not limited to the number of knowledgeable and skilled staff and fiscal resources (Le Floch, Boyle, and Therriault 2008). While human, financial and technological resources represent the core infrastructure of state education agencies and are essential to policy implementation, the implementation of Title III also requires substantive expertise in issues related to ELLs. Moreover, successful implementation may be fostered through collaboration within the state education agency, whether between the Title III and Title I staff, or among state officials with expertise in assessment, curriculum or data systems.
Title III implementation also depends on the capacity of districts. The size, growth and diversity of the ELL populations across districts vary tremendously.. Indeed, the case study districts in this study included small rural districts with very few ELLs to large metropolitan districts in which the ELL population was counted in tens of thousands. Yet, even in such varying cases, districts face similar requirements with regard to Title III.
Drawing primarily from interviews with state officials and a survey of Title III districts, this paper provides an overview of state and district capacity to implement Title III, and efforts to boost that capacity. First, it reviews the core elements of state and district capacity, including human resources, funding and the data infrastructure. Second, it outlines ways in which states seek to boost local capacity through technical assistance, both from the perspective of state officials who provide support and the districts that receive such support. Although state education agencies themselves have varying levels of capacity, they have the obligation to provide support and technical assistance to Title III districts, especially those that miss their AMAO targets; indeed, states may set aside 5 percent of their Title III allocation for the purposes of supporting districts. Finally, the paper turns to a discussion of teachers of ELLs, who represent the most fundamental capacity to implement Title III. States and districts have responsibilities to ensure that teachers are qualified, fluent and supported, each of which is discussed in turn.
Analyses and results for this paper are complete but results are embargoed by the US Department of Education until the public release of the study’s final report which is expected in winter 2011-12.

Author

• Kerstin A. Carlson Le Floch, American Institutes for Research