A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes
California’s K–12 funding and instructional policies for English learners have changed significantly over the past two decades. This paper uses student-level longitudinal data from 2006 to 2019 to examine the learning outcomes of successive cohorts of students who were classified as English learners...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-02-01
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| Series: | AERA Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251318304 |
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| author | Sarah Novicoff Sean F. Reardon Rucker Johnson |
| author_facet | Sarah Novicoff Sean F. Reardon Rucker Johnson |
| author_sort | Sarah Novicoff |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | California’s K–12 funding and instructional policies for English learners have changed significantly over the past two decades. This paper uses student-level longitudinal data from 2006 to 2019 to examine the learning outcomes of successive cohorts of students who were classified as English learners in kindergarten as they progressed through California’s changing public school system. First, we find ELs grew more diverse linguistically over time. Second, we find that their third-grade achievement improved in math and English language arts and achievement gaps narrowed in both subjects. Third, we find that more recent cohorts reported slightly higher rates of English proficiency acquisition by the end of grade 5. Finally, we find that the proportion who were reclassified by grade 5 increased dramatically for the first two cohorts of our study but then remained constant for the next five years. In the most recent cohort we can observe, only 53% of students who entered kindergarten as ELs were reclassified by the end of grade 5. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b432d5a09b7f4716a58b06f49c06ec91 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2332-8584 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | AERA Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-b432d5a09b7f4716a58b06f49c06ec912025-08-20T02:04:18ZengSAGE PublishingAERA Open2332-85842025-02-011110.1177/23328584251318304A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning OutcomesSarah NovicoffSean F. ReardonRucker JohnsonCalifornia’s K–12 funding and instructional policies for English learners have changed significantly over the past two decades. This paper uses student-level longitudinal data from 2006 to 2019 to examine the learning outcomes of successive cohorts of students who were classified as English learners in kindergarten as they progressed through California’s changing public school system. First, we find ELs grew more diverse linguistically over time. Second, we find that their third-grade achievement improved in math and English language arts and achievement gaps narrowed in both subjects. Third, we find that more recent cohorts reported slightly higher rates of English proficiency acquisition by the end of grade 5. Finally, we find that the proportion who were reclassified by grade 5 increased dramatically for the first two cohorts of our study but then remained constant for the next five years. In the most recent cohort we can observe, only 53% of students who entered kindergarten as ELs were reclassified by the end of grade 5.https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251318304 |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Novicoff Sean F. Reardon Rucker Johnson A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes AERA Open |
| title | A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes |
| title_full | A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes |
| title_fullStr | A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes |
| title_short | A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes |
| title_sort | longitudinal portrait of california s kindergarten english learners their learning outcomes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251318304 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahnovicoff alongitudinalportraitofcaliforniaskindergartenenglishlearnerstheirlearningoutcomes AT seanfreardon alongitudinalportraitofcaliforniaskindergartenenglishlearnerstheirlearningoutcomes AT ruckerjohnson alongitudinalportraitofcaliforniaskindergartenenglishlearnerstheirlearningoutcomes AT sarahnovicoff longitudinalportraitofcaliforniaskindergartenenglishlearnerstheirlearningoutcomes AT seanfreardon longitudinalportraitofcaliforniaskindergartenenglishlearnerstheirlearningoutcomes AT ruckerjohnson longitudinalportraitofcaliforniaskindergartenenglishlearnerstheirlearningoutcomes |