Since California educates about one-third of the nation’s English-language learners, I took note that today the state released its test scores for 2009. Both in math and English, more ELLs scored at or above “proficient” than in the previous year.
But the scores for all students also increased about the same amount, so the achievement gap between ELLs and all students remains intact. In math, 32 percent of ELLs scored at or above proficient, compared with 46 percent of all students. In English, 20 percent of ELLs scored at or above proficient; 50 percent of all students had that score. (See Tables 2 and 7.)
The test scores in math and English for ELLs have either stayed the same or increased every year since 2003. The same is true for the scores of all students, except for one year. In 2004, the percentage of all students scoring at or above proficient decreased 1 percentage point from the previous year.