More than half of students who began as ELs passed the ACCESS proficiency exam by third grade and three-fourths by fifth grade; students who had not passed by fifth grade were unlikely to pass before high school¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2024: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? More than one-half of students who began as ELs became former ELs by third grade, and three-fourths passed by the end of fifth grade. → de la Torre 2019 q2 i? About one-fifth of students who began as ELs remained classified as ELs upon high school entry; this group was more likely to be male and much more likely to be identified as needing special education services. → de la Torre 2019 (2)

Evidence¶

de la Torre 2019¶

de la Torre, M., Blanchard, A., Allensworth, E.M., & Freire, S. (2019). English Learners in CPS: A new perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu

q2 · i? · associational · r?

Descriptive analysis of time-to-proficiency on the ACCESS for ELLs exam among the three continuously-enrolled CPS cohorts. The report identifies the end of fifth grade as the point after which passing became unlikely before high school. No effect size is printed.

"More than one-half of students who began as ELs passed the ACCESS proficiency exam and became former ELs by third grade, and three-fourths passed the exam by the end of fifth grade. If students did not pass the exam by the end of fifth grade, they were unlikely to pass it in the remaining years before high school."

de la Torre 2019 (2)¶

de la Torre, M., Blanchard, A., Allensworth, E.M., & Freire, S. (2019). English Learners in CPS: A new perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive comparison of the roughly one-fifth of began-as-EL students still classified as ELs at high school entry versus those who reached proficiency earlier. The report notes they did not differ in types of schools enrolled in. No effect size is printed.

"But they were more likely to be male and were much more likely to be identified as needing special education services than students who reached proficiency on the ACCESS exam before high school."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• ELs who did not reach proficiency by eighth grade showed continued growth but started first grade with much lower ACCESS scores, and rising grade-level thresholds meant they never met the proficiency cut — related
• Students who began as ELs and demonstrated proficiency by eighth grade had academic outcomes similar to or higher than students never classified as ELs — related
• Publicly reported statistics based only on active ELs give a biased picture of EL performance because proficient students exit the subgroup — related
• Students who began as ELs were not overidentified for special education services relative to students never classified as ELs — related
• Longitudinal growth observed for current ELs likely underestimates total-cohort growth because students who reach English proficiency exit and are no longer assessed — related
• More recent cohorts of kindergarten ELs reached English proficiency on the CELDT in earlier grades than previous cohorts — related