Advancing opportunities for multilingual learners
The Stanford-Sequoia K-12 Research Collaborative is a research-practice partnership among the Stanford Graduate School of Education, including the Gardner Center; nine local school districts that serve over 30,000 students from kindergarten through high school; and the nonprofit California Education Partners.
One of the Collaborative projects focuses on the long-term success of multilingual learners and specifically addresses how and when students are reclassified from English Learner status to a fluent and proficient status. The Gardner Center has taken the lead in identifying the challenges and opportunities inherent in existing reclassification processes and is studying how adjustments are making a difference.
The challenge
Gardner Center research shows that multilingual learners who are still labeled as English Learners entering high school are less likely to complete high school — or to do so college-ready — than peers who reclassify. Researchers also found that once students reached high school, reclassification was even less likely to occur.
Meanwhile, the reclassification process has been quite varied across the eight elementary feeder schools that serve Sequoia Unified High School District, so even when students meet some of the criteria for English proficiency, they may be held back from reclassification by procedural barriers.
The solution
The first and most critical step in addressing this challenge was a collective agreement among the schools to unify their reclassification processes and criteria, with a focus on reclassifying students before they reach high school.
In spring 2023, the districts agreed to key changes that (a) offered more ways for eighth and ninth grade English Learners to demonstrate basic skills for the purpose of reclassification; (b) improved the process for reclassification; and (c) removed administrative hurdles to reclassification.
The Gardner Center has been studying the effects of these changes and has found meaningful increases in the number of students who are reclassified and, equally important, in their longer term academic success.
Key takeaways
School districts in the Collaborative are reclassifying many more multilingual learners than in previous years, with Long-Term English Learners — students who have been designated as English Learners for 7+ years — showing the most dramatic increase. Learnings and recommendations from this work include:
Prioritizing early reclassification: The longer districts wait to reclassify students, the harder reclassification becomes. California's assessment remains the same for grades three, four, and five. By fifth grade, English Learners who have been in California public schools throughout elementary school are familiar with the format and content of the test and may have their best opportunity to pass.
Redefining the basic skills criterion: Districts have wide discretion to define the additional basic skills needed for reclassification; offering students multiple pathways to meet those criterion expands opportunity for students to demonstrate readiness.
Streamlining the reclassification process: Districts can remove administrative barriers to reclassification by testing as early as possible and immediately seeking teacher and parent approval, which can help educators complete the reclassification process before students move to the next grade.
