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NATIONAL STUDY
SHEDS LIGHT ON IMPACT OF SCHOOL PROGRAMS
ON LANGUAGE MINORITY
CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON EDUCATION, DIVERSITY & EXCELLENCE
University of California, Santa Cruz
Ph: 831.459.3500
Fax: 831.459.3502
Web: crede.ucsc.edu
NATIONAL
STUDY SHEDS LIGHT ON IMPACT OF SCHOOL PROGRAMS ON
LANGUAGE MINORITY STUDENTS' LONG-TERM ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
August 27, 2002
Contact: Barbara McKenna (831.459.3521); mckenna@cats.ucsc.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SANTA CRUZ — By the 2030s, students whose first language is not English will make up an estimated 40 percent of K-12 student population in the United States. Although a range of programs exists to serve these students, there has been little conclusive data to date to indicate which programs are the most effective and why. As this demographic grows, determining which programs are effective is becoming increasingly more vital. A newly released national study, conducted through the Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (CREDE), presents in-depth data on the effectiveness of various programs and recommendations on design, implementation, and evaluation for education reform for language minority students.
Titled "A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement," the study was conducted from 1996-2001, by Wayne P. Thomas and Virginia P. Collier, professors of education at George Mason University. It includes quantitative and qualitative research findings from urban and rural research sites in northeast, northwest, south-central, and southeast U.S. The study examines the types of school programs provided for linguistically and culturally diverse students and the resulting long-term academic achievement of these students. It concludes by proposing answers to urgent policy questions at federal and state levels.
The report focuses on five school districts and examines more than 210,000
student records (a record includes all the school district records for
one student collected during one school year). More than 80 primary languages
were represented in the student samples, but the data analyses in three
of the five research sites focused on Spanish speakers — 75 percent
of the U.S. language minority school-age population.
The study focuses on English language learners students whose first language
is not English and who are not fluent in English in grades K-12 —
the demographic group that most U.S. schools are currently under-educating.
Although this project began in 1996, it incorporates knowledge from research
underway since 1985.
Thomas and Collier established agreements with participating school districts
to follow every language minority student who entered the school district
for every year of his/her attendance in that district. Their research
tracked students based on each program type attended (bilingual, ESL content,
mainstream, two-way immersion, etc.) and by cohorts (grouped by socioeconomic
status, primary and second language proficiency upon entry, prior schooling,
etc.). To track student achievement, they used results from measures administered
by the school district, including standardized test scores.
The complete study can be found on the CREDE website at: http://www.crede.ucsc.edu/research/llaa/llaa.html
Attached are the following:
* Summary of types of programs examined in the study
* Summary of findings
* Summary of major policy implications
#####
A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language
Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement
Program Types
The study focused on student outcomes from eight major program types for
language minority (LM) students:
* 90-10 Two-Way Bilingual Immersion (or Dual Language)
Two-way means two language groups receiving integrated schooling through
their two languages; 90-10 means that for grades PK-2, 90 percent of instruction
is in the minority language, gradually increasing English instruction
to 50 percent by grade 5
* 50-50 Two-Way Bilingual Immersion
50-50 means 50 percent instruction in English and 50 percent in the minority
language
* 90-10 One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education (DBE)
A one-way program is one language group being schooled through two languages;
DBE programs continue both languages in secondary school
* 50-50 One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education
* 90-10 Transitional Bilingual Education
(In 90-10 TBE, for grades PK-2, 90 percent of instruction is in the minority
language, gradually increasing English instruction until, by grade 5,
all instruction is in the English mainstream for the remainder of schooling.)
* 50-50 Transitional Bilingual Education
* English As A Second Language (ESL) Taught Through Academic Content
* English Mainstream
##### A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students'
Long-Term Academic Achievement
Findings
Only a very brief overview of findings is presented here. Full findings
are available at: http://www.crede.ucsc.edu/research/llaa/1.1_conclusions.html
English Achievement Findings
Focusing first on program comparisons, Thomas and Collier summarize English
language learners' (ELLs) long-term achievement on nationally standardized
tests (ITBS, CTBS, Stanford 9, Terra Nova) in English Total Reading (the
subtest measuring academic problem-solving in all curricular subjects
combined). Students in this study were those who entered their school
district with little or no proficiency in English in grades K-1, and were
followed to the highest grade level reached by the program to date. Among
the findings were the following (50th NCE is considered grade-level performance):
* English language learners immersed in the English mainstream because
their parents refused bilingual/ESL services showed large decreases in
reading and math achievement by grade 5 when compared to students who
received bilingual/ESL services. The largest number of dropouts came from
this group.
* When ESL content classes were provided for 2-3 years and followed by
immersion in the English mainstream, ELL graduates ranged from the 31st
to the 40th NCE with a median of the 34th NCE (23rd percentile) by the
end of their high school years
* 50-50 transitional bilingual education students who were former ELLs,
provided with 50 percent instruction in English and 50 percent instruction
in Spanish for 3-4 years, followed by immersion in the English mainstream,
reached the 47th NCE (45th percentile) by the end of 11th grade.
* 90-10 transitional bilingual education (TBE) students who were former
ELLs reached the 40th NCE (32nd percentile) by the end of 5th grade.
* 50-50 one-way developmental bilingual education students who were former
ELLs reached the 62nd NCE (72nd percentile) after 4 years of bilingual
schooling in two high-achieving school districts, outperforming their
comparison ELL group schooled all in English by 15 NCEs (almost 3/4 of
a national standard deviation — a significant difference). By 7th
grade, these bilingually schooled former ELLs were still above grade level
at the 56th NCE (61st percentile).
* 90-10 One-way developmental bilingual education (DBE) students who were
former ELLs reached the 41st NCE (34th percentile) by the end of 5th grade.
* 50-50 Two-way bilingual immersion students who were former ELLs attending
a high-poverty, high-mobility school: 58 percent met or exceeded Oregon
state standards in English reading by the end of 3rd and 5th grades.
* 90-10 Two-way bilingual immersion students who were former ELLs performed
above grade level in English in grades 1-5, completing 5th grade at the
51st NCE (51st percentile), significantly outperforming their comparison
groups in 90-10 transitional bilingual education and 90-10 developmental
bilingual education.
Spanish Achievement: A goal of one-way and two-way bilingual programs
is to graduate students who are fully academically proficient in both
languages of instruction Thomas and Collier include in their study a summary
of native-Spanish-speakers' long-term achievement on nationally standardized
Aprenda 2 and SABE tests in Spanish Total Reading and Spanish Total Math.
Reading: Thomas and Collier chose the reading subtest of the standardized
tests as the "ultimate" measure of attainment, because LM students'
reading scores were consistently the lowest among the subjects and because
it is the measure that most closely correlates with the standardized tests
required for admission to post-secondary
Other Subjects: Student achievement in all other subjects is also reported
in this study.
Achievement Of Native-English Speakers In Two-Way Bilingual Education:
Native-English speakers in two-way bilingual immersion programs maintained
their English, added a second language to their knowledge base, and achieved
well above the 50th percentile in all subject areas on norm-referenced
tests in English. These bilingually schooled students equaled or outperformed
their comparison groups being schooled monolingually, on all measures.
Influence Of Student Background On Student Achievement: This portion of
the study examines how student achievement is affected by socioeconomic
status, number of years of primary language schooling, and gender differences.
#####
A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language
Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement
Major Policy Implications
A brief overview of some policy implications is presented here. The full document can be viewed at: http://www.crede.ucsc.edu/research/llaa/1.1_conclusions.html
* The authors found that enrichment 90-10 and 50-50 one-way and two-way
developmental bilingual education (DBE) programs (or dual language, bilingual
immersion) are the only programs found to date that assist students to
fully reach the 50th percentile in both their native language and English
in all subjects and to maintain that level of high achievement, or reach
even higher levels through the end of schooling. The fewest dropouts come
from these programs.
* Parents who refuse bilingual/ESL services for their children should
be informed that their children's long-term academic achievement will
probably be much lower as a result, and they should be strongly counseled
against refusing bilingual/ESL services when their child is eligible.
The research findings of this study indicate that ESL or bilingual services,
as required by Lau v. Nichols, raise students' achievement levels by significant
amounts.
* When English language learners (ELLs) initially attend segregated, remedial
programs, these students do not close the achievement gap after reclassification
and placement in the English mainstream. Instead, they maintain or widen
the gap in later years. Therefore, their average achievement NCE at reclassification
should be as high as possible, since this is likely to be their highest
achievement level that they reach during their school years. Ideally,
instructional gains are best accomplished in an enrichment (not a remedial)
program.
* Students with no proficiency in English must not be placed in short-term
programs of only 1-3 years. In this study and all other research studies
following ELLs long term, the minimum length of time it takes to reach
grade-level performance in second language is 4 years. Furthermore, only
ELLs with at least 4 years of primary language schooling reach grade-level
performance in a second language in 4 years. As a group, students with
no primary language schooling (either in home country or host country)
are not able to reach grade-level performance in a second language.
* The strongest predictor of second language student achievement is the
amount of formal primary language schooling. The more primary language
grade-level schooling, the higher the achievement in the second language.
* Bilingually schooled students outperform comparable monolingually schooled
students in academic achievement in all subjects, after 4-7 years of dual-language
schooling.
* Students who receive at least 4-5 years of grade-level primary language
schooling in their home country before they emigrate to the U.S. typically
reach the 34th NCE (23rd percentile) by 11th grade when schooled all in
English in the U.S. in an ESL Content program, and then the mainstream.
These students are on grade level when they arrive, but it takes them
several years to acquire enough English to do grade-level work, which
is equivalent to interrupting their schooling for 1 or 2 years. Then they
have to make more gains than the average native-English speaker makes
every year for several years in a row to eventually catch up to grade
level, a very difficult task to accomplish within the remaining years
of K-12 schooling.
* The highest quality ESL Content programs close about half of the total
achievement gap.
* When ELLs initially exit into the English mainstream, those schooled
all in English outperform those schooled bilingually when tested in English.
But the bilingually schooled students reach the same levels of achievement
as those schooled all in English by the middle school years, and during
the high school years the bilingually schooled students outperform the
monolingually schooled students.
* Students who receive at least 5-6 years of dual language schooling in
the U.S. reach the 50th NCE/percentile in second language by 5th or 6th
grade and maintain that level of performance, because they have not lost
any years of schooling. Students who are raised in a dual language environment
need at least 4 years of schooling in primary language and 4 years of
schooling in second language to achieve on-grade level in either of the
two languages. Providing bilingual schooling in the U.S. meets both needs
simultaneously, typically in 4-7 years, leading to high academic achievement
in the long term.
* Bilingual/ESL Content programs must be effective (at least 3-4 NCE gains
per year more than mainstream students are gaining per year), well implemented,
not segregated, and sustained long enough (5-6 years) for the typical
25 NCE achievement gap between ELLs and native-English speakers to be
closed. Even the most effective programs can only close half of the achievement
gap in 2-3 years, the typical length of remedial ELL programs. Therefore,
short-term, remedial, and ineffective programs cannot close the large
achievement gap and should be avoided.
* An enrichment bilingual/ESL program must meet students' developmental
needs: linguistic (primary language/second language), academic, cognitive,
emotional, social, physical. Schools need to create a natural learning
environment in school, with lots of natural, rich oral and written language
used by students and teachers (primary language and second language used
in separate instructional contexts, not using translation); meaningful,
‘real world' problem-solving; all students working together; media-rich
learning (video, computers, print); challenging thematic units that get
and hold students' interest; and using students' bilingual-bicultural
knowledge to bridge to new knowledge across the curriculum.
