A newly released study from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research found that English-learning school students who were more proficient in the language by the ninth grade scored higher and graduated at higher rates than late-arriving learners who continued their language studies into high school.
Marisa de la Torre, Managing Director and Senior Research Associate at the UChicago Consortium on School Research conducted a previous study that observed the outcomes of English learners — students whose native language is not English — from Kindergarten to eighth grade.
Curious as to what happened to students once they moved to high school, and with most available data reporting only on current English learners, the study sought to fill the gap by examining the long-term academic pursuits of several groups of English learners as they transitioned into high school.
“That misses a large group of students who reached English proficiency—who are very successful,” de la Torre said. “We recognize and see their successes and the strengths of the programs that helped them succeed. And, at the same time, we recognize that many high schoolers who are English Learners need more robust support.”
The study broke English language learners into three groups – former English learners, long-term English learners and late-arriving English learners.
The first group consists of students who demonstrated English proficiency and exited English Learner status by the ninth grade. The second group, long-term learners, are students who are still classified as English Learners in high school. And late-arriving learners are students who arrived at Chicago Public Schools after third grade.
The study used students who began their freshman year of high school in the fall of 2014, 2015, and 2016. It did not include the most recent influx of English learners.
Former English learners, who comprise about a quarter of the ninth-grade population, had “higher than district average outcomes.” These students had higher GPAs, test scores, high-school graduation rates, and college persistence rates.
Long-term English learners had GPAs and SAT scores lower than the district average. They were also less likely to enroll in college and less likely to remain enrolled, with lower four-year college persistence rates.
Students who were late-arriving English learners had lower SAT scores than district averages, though they had higher GPAs. They also had high college persistence rates among those enrolled in college.
“There are some key differences among different groups of English Learners in high school,” Kaitlyn Franklin, report author and research analyst at the UChicago Consortium on School Research, said in a news release. “We hope that our findings help policymakers and educators consider which strategies may best support different students.”