Designating early-elementary students who are close to being proficient in English as English-language learners can have “significant and positive effects on [their] academic achievement,” a new study concludes.
The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles, analyzed differences between ELLs and those considered barely English-proficient on state mathematics and language arts exams and grades from kindergarten through 10th grade.
ELLs performed better on state tests in the early-elementary grades, but their advantage shrank as all the students reached middle and high school—and as most ELLs were reclassified as proficient.
