Beyond the Homogeneous English Learner Classification: New Progress Analyses Using New, Multiple English Learner Subgroups

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Widespread concern about how to successfully educate the growing English population has led to calls for new ways to examine English learner progress beyond that of a single K-12 homogenous group. This symposium presents four empirical studies that respond to this call for new analyses to identify and understand the differing needs of subgroups of current and former ELs. This symposium provides both useful data and exemplary analyses that researchers, states, and districts can replicate within their own contexts as an aid to more effectively focusing resources and targeting practices to promote English learner success.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Bilingual Education Research

Chair

• Sandra Garcia, U.S. Department of Education

Papers

• A Longitudinal Study of the Progress of English Learners in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah - Eric Haas, WestEd; Min Huang, WestEd; Loan Tran, WestEd

• Time to Reclassification: How Long Does It Take Washington English Learners to Develop English Proficiency? - Jason Greenberg Motamedi, Education Northwest

• Four-Year High School Graduation Rate of Students in Arizona by English Learner Status - Min Huang, WestEd; Eric Haas, WestEd; Niufeng Zhu, WestEd

• Assessing Literacy Progress in English Learner Students - Barbara R. Foorman, Florida State University; Anabel Espinosa, University of Miami; Carla Jackson; Yi-Chien Wu, National Central University

Discussant

• Claude N. Goldenberg, Stanford University