English Learner Trajectories and Reclassification 3
SEPTEMBER Julian Betts, English Learner Laura Hill, Karen Bachofer, Trajectories and Joseph Hayes, Andrew Lee, and Reclassification Andrew Zau Supported with funding by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, and the William T. Grant Foundation © 2019 Public Policy Institute of California PPIC is a public charity. It does not take or support positions on any ballot measures or on any local, state, or federal legislation, nor does it endorse, support, or oppose any political parties or candidates for public office. Short sections of text, not to exceed three paragraphs, may be quoted without written permission provided that full attribution is given to the source. Research publications reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of our funders or of the staff, officers, advisory councils, or board of directors of the Public Policy Institute of California. SUMMARY CONTENTS More than 40 percent of students in California’s public schools speak a language other than English at home. In the 2016–17 school year, 21 percent Introduction 5 of all students, or more than 1.3 million, were English Learners (ELs). When When Do English Learners No Longer Need former English Learners are included, the population of “ever ELs” expands to Language Support? 7 38 percent of all K–12 students in the state (CDE Dataquest 2017). A key issue Effects of Reclassification for California’s K–12 schools is when to reclassify English Learner (EL) on Student Outcomes 10 students as English Proficient. If they are reclassified too soon, they may Main Findings from have difficulty handling core academic classes.
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