English Learners

The Classroom Traits and Practices Linked to English Learners’ Success

By Ileana Najarro — September 06, 2024 3 min read
Young Hispanic school teacher helping elementary students while writing in notebooks.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Positive attitudes toward school and access to dual-language immersion programs are associated with better academic performance among English learners. Learning in overcrowded classrooms and having a disability, meanwhile, are characteristics associated with lower reading scores among this growing subset of the student population.

These are some of the findings from a new U.S. Government Accountability Office report that examined the student, teacher, and school characteristics associated with English learners’ academic achievement, progress toward English-language proficiency, and growth in reading scores over time.

While the report, published in late August, is geared toward federal leadership, as the GAO is an office of Congress, Jacqueline Nowicki, a director on the GAO’s education, workforce, and income security team, said local educators can benefit from understanding the various factors at play in English learners’ education.

“It’s an opportunity for states, districts, and individual schools to find themselves in the data and see where they fit, and then think about, what can we do at the local level that can help move the needle in the right direction?” Nowicki said.

Data align with past research findings

Researchers used state and federal datasets—including state reading and English proficiency assessments, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study that examines groups of children over a multi-year period—for the new report. They examined potential relationships between students’ academic performance and characteristics including students’ race, teachers’ absences, and more.

Some findings across grade levels include:

  • higher reading scores among female English learners,
  • higher reading scores among Asian English learners, and
  • lower reading and math scores, and less progress toward English proficiency, when students were faced with high levels of teacher absences.

Nowicki also noted that some associations were only apparent in specific contexts.

For instance, researchers tracked national reading performance for both 4th and 8th grades. But only in 4th grade was there a clear association between English learners’ stronger performance in reading and having a teacher of the same race or ethnicity. In math, having a teacher of the same race or ethnicity was only associated with better performance in 8th grade.

These findings—highlighting associations, not causation—offer schools a chance to take a close look at their setups to determine what systemic changes are needed to improve English learners’ academic performance, Nowicki said.

Some findings from the GAO report echo what’s been found in prior research.

The new report found that English learners dually identified as also having a disability had worse performance on national reading assessments.

“It’s challenging for schools to be able to really meet their needs,” said Rachel Garrett, a managing researcher at the nonprofit American Institutes for Research. “We see it in the research, we see it in the data, and we also hear it from those who are directly working to serve these students.”

Garrett’s past research also backs up the GAO finding on the potential benefits of dual-language immersion programs for English learners’ academic success. In dual-language immersion, students—often a mix of English learners and native English speakers—learn in both English and another language.

“This can be a pathway to helping their students, and not see their first language as a hindrance, but something that may actually benefit their outcomes in both English and their home language,” Garrett said.

However, access to such programs nationwide remains uneven, as past research has highlighted.

For Nowicki and Garrett, the new data analysis of characteristics can be a starting point for educators hoping to improve English learners’ educational outcomes, and a reminder that this work doesn’t need to happen in silos.

“No district or school is alone in thinking about this, and probably there’s an opportunity to take a more cohesive approach to figuring out how to tackle some of these issues,” Garrett said.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Substitute Teacher Staffing Simplified: 5 Strategies for Success
Struggling to find quality substitute teachers? Join our webinar to learn key strategies to keep your classrooms covered and students learning.
Content provided by Kelly Education
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI in Education: Empowering Educators to Tap into the Promise and Steer Clear of Peril
Explore the transformative potential of AI in education and learn how to harness its power to improve student outcomes.
Content provided by Panorama Education
English Learners Webinar Family and Community Engagement: Best Practices for English Learners
Strengthening the bond between schools and families is key to the success of English learners. Learn how to enhance family engagement and support student achievement.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

English Learners No, the Arrival of English Learners Doesn't Hurt Other Students, a Study Finds
A new study reviewed any spillover effects of the growing immigrant student population in Delaware.
5 min read
GettyImages 1402013281
iStock/Getty
English Learners 2 Districts Overhauled How They Teach English Learners. Here's How
They offer a case study in adopting an integrated, collaborative model that's a departure from teaching English learners in small groups.
6 min read
Photograph of an English language learners high school classroom
iStock/Getty
English Learners Download Immigrant Students' Rights: A Guide for Schools' Front-Office Staff
A downloadable guide to help school staff familiarize themselves with immigrant students' rights and schools' responsibilities to them.
2 min read
Photo of Latino family talking with elementary school staff.
E+
English Learners What Schools Can Do to Help Immigrant Students Succeed
Researchers and educators recently shared advice on how to best work with immigrant students and English learners.
5 min read
Eric Hoover teaches his class of immigrant and refugee students at McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 15, 2017. The Lancaster community runs an "international school" on its main high school campus to help the waves of new arrivals sponsored by local resettlement agencies learn English and adjust to American schools.
Eric Hoover teaches his class of immigrant and refugee students at McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 15, 2017. A few key practices rooted in empathy can move schools beyond merely complying with their legal obligations to English learners.
Michael Rubinkam/AP