Adolescent Englishlanguage Learners: Challenges and Suggested Solutions

1
Adolescent English-language Learners Challenges
and Suggested Solutions

• Ramping Up Middle Grades Literacy Forum
• Phoenix, September 28 29, 2006
• Diane August
• Center for Applied Linguistics

2
Credits

• Findings of the Adolescent English-Language
  Learner Advisory Panel in a soon-to-be-released
  report entitled Double the Work Challenges and
  Solutions to Acquiring Language and Academic
  Literacy for Adolescent English Language Learners
• Staff Migration Policy Institute, Center for
  Applied Linguistics, and Alliance for Excellent
  Education
• Support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Aida Walqui at West-Ed for overview slides

3
Educational Outcomes Crisis for Adolescent
English-language Learners

• 96 of 8th grade English-language learners scored
  below the basic level on NAEP in 2005 (NCES,
  2005)
• Large discrepancies between English-language
  learners and English proficient students on NAEP,
  with the mean for 8th grade English-language
  learners considerably below the basic level
  (Batalova Fix, 2005)see next slide
• Only 20 of English-language learners classified
  as formerly LEP scored at the proficient or
  advanced levels on the reading portion of NAEP
  administered in 2005
• English-language learners graduate from high
  school at considerably lower rates than students
  who are English proficient, 51 compared with 10
  who speak English (NCES, 2004)

4
Average scores of 8th graders in reading by
English language proficiency and state 2003
Batalova Fix, 2005
5
Crisis is Nationwide

• Five states account for over 60 of the
  English-language learner population in 6th
  through 12th grades California, Texas, New York,
  Florida, and Illinois (Batalova Fix, 2005)
• However, the states with the fastest growing ELL
  population are not the same (Capps, Fix, Murray,
  Ost Passel, 2005)
• North Carolina500 growth between 1993-2003
• Colorado, Nevada, Nebraska, Oregon, Georgia, and
  Indianamore than 200 growth between 1993-2003

6
LEP population by state, 2003-2004
Batalova Fix, 2005
7
Capps, Fix, Murray, Ost Passel, 2005
8
Diversity of the English-language Learner
Population

• While the largest percentage of English-language
  learners pre-kindergarten- grade 5 are from
  Mexico, other Latin American countries and the
  Caribbean55
• 25 are from Asia
• 17 are from Europe, Canada, and Oceania
• 5 are from Africa
• Source Capps, Fix, Murray, Ost Passel, 2005

9
Capps, Fix, Murray, Ost Passel, 2005
10
Diversity of the English-language Learner
Population

• 57 of adolescent English-language learners were
  born in the US and are second or third generation
  immigrants (Batalova, Fix, Murray, 2005)
• This suggests many English-language learners are
  not learning the core content in English despite
  many years in US schools

11
Diversity of the English-language Learner
Population

• 43 of adolescent English-language learners are
  foreign born
• Some students arrive in the US with strong first
  language literacy skills and content knowledge
  while others do not because of poor and
  interrupted schooling in their home countries
• Even those who enter with strong first language
  skills face challenges because they enter when
  academic tasks are challenging and there is less
  time to acquire academic competence in a second
  language

12
More LEP adolescents are native than foreign born
Batalova Fix, 2005
13
Immigrant Youth are Poor

• Although some adolescent English-language
  learners live in middle and upper income families
• 59 of adolescent English-language learners live
  in families with incomes 185 below the poverty
  line compared with 28 of adolescents that speak
  English only (Batalova, Fix, Murray, 2005)

14
Challenges Facing to Improving the Literacy of
Adolescent English-language Learners

• Lack of common criteria for identifying
  English-language learners and tracking their
  progress
• Lack of appropriate assessments
• Inadequate educator capacity for improving
  literacy in English-language learners
• Lack of appropriate and flexible program options
• Lack of a strong and coherent research base on
  how to build literacy in English-language
  learners (federal responsibility)

15
Lack of Common Criteria for Identifying
English-language Learners and Tracking their
Progress

• Issues
• States and districts vary widely in their
  definition of an English-language learner and
  how they determine when these students are
  declassified as ELL
• Adequate background information on these students
  (e.g. age of enrollment in US schools, levels of
  first language literacy and content knowledge) is
  not collected
• English-language learners are not tracked once
  they are declassified
• Solutions
• Develop a common definition statewide, preferably
  linked to student proficiency data establish
  common criteria for declassification collect
  adequate background information at the district
  level, and create systems to track students once
  declassified

16
Lack of Appropriate Assessments

• Issues
• NCLB requires English-language learners to take
  the state math assessment within one year of
  arrival in US schools and the reading assessment
  by the second year
• Although NCLB allows for accommodations including
  the use of native language assessments for a
  limited amount of time, very few states have
  developed accommodated assessments
• Very few good assessments of academic language
  proficiency Need for good diagnostic assessments
  and policies to ensure ELLS receive proper
  instruction
• Solutions
• Seek examples from other states or develop state
  consortia to improve assessment (WIDA consortium)

17
Inadequate Educator Capacity for Improving
Literacy in English-language Learners

• Issues
• Very few educators have professional development
  for teaching literacy to adolescent
  English-language learners, especially within the
  context of core academic classrooms
• Possible Solutions
• Updating state teacher certification requirements
  so all credentialed teachers are capable of
  working with ELLS
• Requiring districts with large number of ELLS to
  provide meaningful, ongoing professional
  development for teachers in how best to serve
  these students in content area instruction
• Providing specific training for coaches in how to
  develop literacy in English-language learners

18
Lack of Appropriate and Flexible Program Options

• Issues
• It is a myth that most adolescent
  English-language learners can learn core content
  in a second language in two years
• Possible Solutions
• Provide various instructional models depending on
  local context to ensure students learn academic
  content bilingual programs, sheltered English
  programs, or newcomer programs
• Provide flexible pathways
• Allot extra instructional time through extending
  the school year or school day
• Allow students to take more than 4 years to
  complete high school
• Provide flexible scheduling so students can work
  as they study