English Learners' Time to Reclassification: How Much Do Student Characteristics Matter?

• In Event: 53.039 - Achieving the Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity for Subgroups of English Learners in Washington State

Abstract

Objectives
How long does it typically take English learners (ELs) to develop English language proficiency? And how does this time vary by student characteristics such as English proficiency at entry to kindergarten, gender, and home language? This study seeks to understand how long it takes ELs in seven Washington school districts to reclassify as former ELs.

Theoretical framework
Most research on time to proficiency has relied on students’ reclassification from EL to former EL, however since every state has its own criteria for reclassification, it is difficult to compare results among states. Extant studies of how long it takes ELs to learn English have produced estimates ranging from three to seven years, and have found that initial proficiency level in English has strong relationship to the time it takes students to reach proficiency, and time varied by home language and by gender.

Data and Methods
The study includes 16,957 current and former ELs who entered kindergarten in the seven districts between 2005/06 and 2011/12. The study tracked their outcomes from their first year of kindergarten through 2012/13 using data from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s K–12 dataset, which includes data on program participation, assessment scores, and student-level demographic characteristics.

We used discrete-time survival analysis to estimate the time it takes students to be reclassified and the likelihood of reclassification in their first eight years of school for subgroups of students in comparison with other subgroups. We created a model using survival analysis to predict variation in time to reclassification according to the student characteristics of English proficiency at entry to kindergarten, gender, and home language.

Results
Students who entered kindergarten as ELs took a median of 3.8 years to be reclassified. Those who entered with advanced English proficiency were more likely to be reclassified in their first eight years of school than those entering with beginning proficiency or intermediate proficiency. Students entering with advanced English proficiency took a median of 3.0 years to be reclassified, and those entering with beginning or intermediate proficiency took a median of 4.4 years. Female ELs were more likely than males to be reclassified in their first eight years of school. Female ELs took a median of 3.6 years to be reclassified, and male ELs took a median of 4.1 years. Of the most common home languages in Washington Chinese speakers took the shortest median time to be reclassified (2.8 years), followed by speakers of Vietnamese (2.9 years), Russian or Ukrainian (3.2 years), Spanish (3.7 years), and Somali (3.9 years).

Significance
Knowing the average time to reclassification is important to educators because English proficiency is linked to academic success in the United States. Understanding how long it typically takes students to develop English proficiency provides educators with a measure of expected progress. This knowledge may also help educators identify specific programs and practices that facilitate or delay the development of English proficiency.

Authors

• Jason Greenberg Motamedi, Education Northwest

• Malkeet Singh, Wake County Public School System