Students learning English as a second language in California are making steady progress amid challenges in immigration enforcement and educational funding, according to a new study from the Public Policy Institute of California.
The research, funded by the Sobrato Family Foundation, found English learners are showing major academic strides as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment declines and new immigration patterns.
Nearly 40% of all TK-12 students speak a language other than English at home, and roughly a third of public school students are current or former English learners, according to the study.
In the central San Joaquin Valley – where nearly a fifth of the K-12 student population is English learning – some of the most noticeable changes are taking place.
While most of the state has experienced declining enrollment and lagging reclassification rates, districts in the Central Valley are expecting to see slight growth through the end of the decade as a result of the lower cost of living.
“Areas of the state that are going to see growth will be the northern Central Valley and the Sierra region,” study coauthor Laura Hill said at a briefing Sept. 11.“That has a lot to do with affordability of housing and jobs.”
However, districts across the state still have a long way to go to help their EL students catch up to state academic levels in preparation for the state’s Global California 2030 plan for half of all TK-12 students to participate in programs to learn a second language.
Researchers at PPIC urge education leaders to focus on boosting reclassification rates, invest in bilingual teacher training, and utilize state data tools to identify new strategies for EL development.
New focus for Valley students leading to major progress
Two Valley school districts focusing on EL growth and progress are Central Unified in Fresno County and Merced City School District in Merced County.
Over the last year, leaders at Central Unified have been testing new strategies to boost progress among their multilingual learners. Various school sites last year saw significant improvements in the English Language Proficiency Assessments, known as ELPAC.
The district implemented new techniques, such as “EL Bootcamps,” to better prepare students for the end-of-year exams. Administrators also worked with family liaisons to create adaptive lesson plans to work with individual students across multiple campuses.
The district is expecting to see progress from the last year reflected in the California Dashboard later this fall, after statewide results are released in November.
A new dual language immersion program started up in Merced County this year. Don Stowell Elementary kicked off the school year with two Spanish immersion kindergarten classes.
The district’s goal is to increase the amount of classes offered to create more dual language immersion programs across its campuses.
In an interview with The Merced FOCUS, school leaders said they will consider expanding their program to offer more languages based on community demand.
Fresno Unified, the state’s third largest school district, is also making changes to better uplift its EL students – as well as its migrant and newcomer students. The report shows the state has seen an increase in students born outside of the U.S. who recently started attending school.
The district offers peer-to-peer mentorships, virtual afterschool programs and partners with various community-based organizations to connect vulnerable students and families to immigration, healthcare and other basic needs resources.
According to the study, most of these newcomer students are coming at the secondary level, with limited schooling from their home counties. The majority of newcomers are from Mexico, but data shows there has been a steady increase in students from Central American countries, such as El Salvador and Guatemala.
“We're getting a lot more students with interrupted formal education,” study coauthor Beyond Deng said at the briefing. “They skip a few grades, they have really low literacy in their home language, and they have very underdeveloped academic skills, so that's been a huge adjustment to try to figure out.”
Disclosure: Sobrato Philanthropies is a funder of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, which publishes The Merced FOCUS.