Supporting the Educational Attainment of English Learners in High School in Chicago

• In Event: Preparation for Postsecondary Education for Latinx Multilingual Learners in Chicago: Multiple Starting Points, Multiple Pathways

Abstract

Purpose
English Learners (ELs) comprise a growing proportion of students in public schools across the country, but their progress, experiences, and achievement in school is often poorly understood. The publicly reported statistics on ELs are based on only as subset of students, those who are active ELs, leading to misperceptions about ELs performance and leaving out former ELs, those who have demonstrated English proficiency. Using data from students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), we seek to understand the trajectories and academic attainment of students who began kindergarten as ELs and pay particular attention to the heterogeneity of the active ELs in high school as these groups of students are treated identically in terms of public reporting, but they likely have different experiences and needs, which are often not recognized.

Methods
We mainly use descriptive methods to show the academic trajectories of ELs from kindergarten to eighth grade paying attention to grades, attendance, and test scores. And for students in high school, we focus on their attainment, which includes high school graduation, college enrollment and two-year persistence, and their academic qualifications.

Data
We examine three cohorts of CPS students who began kindergarten in the fall of 2007, 2008 and 2009 and three other cohort of students who were in ninth grade in the fall of 2014, 2015, and 2016. The research team has access to longitudinal administrative data on the population of students in CPS.

Conclusions
Publicly reported statistics make it look as if ELs are consistently behind non-EL students, but students who begin as ELs have similar achievement and higher attendance than never ELs. ELs who demonstrate English proficiency (becoming former ELs) by the end of eighth grade have strong academic outcomes that continue during the high school years. About a quarter of students who enter kindergarten as ELs remained classified as ELs before high school (long-term ELs) and struggle in high school. All ELs who attend a Chicago public high school, former ELs and well as active ELs, are more likely to enroll in two-year colleges even when their academic qualifications are similar or better than never ELs.

Significance
Understanding the performance of all groups of ELs in elementary and high schools is urgent because public reporting suggest ELs graduate at far lower rates than their English-proficient peers (U.S. Department of Education [USDOE], n.d.). Once they graduate from high school, their college enrollment and degree attainment are much lower than native-English speakers (Kanno & Cromley, 2013). These issues are very salient in Chicago, which is among the 10 districts in the nation serving the largest numbers of ELs (Ruiz Soto, Hooker, & Batalova, 2015). Knowing these patterns would help practitioners know where to direct resources and support to have the greatest impact for different groups of ELs.

Authors

• Marisa de la Torre, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Alyssa Blanchard, University of Chicago Consortium on School Research
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elaine M. Allensworth, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Silvana Freire
  Non-Presenting Author

• Carlos L. Angeles, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kaitlyn Franklin, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author