Certain state policies and practices may help reverse this detrimental pattern
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Francisco. English Learners were 7 to 20 percentage points more likely than their peers to not be enrolled in core academic classes required for graduation, such as math, science, social studies, and English language arts, reports a new study from the National Research & Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners. However, researchers posit, policies and practices such as building teacher capacity for educating multilingual students and expanding bilingual content course options may be contributing to more equitable core course enrollment, thereby lowering the degree of “exclusionary tracking.”
Center researchers Dr. Ilana Umansky, University of Oregon and Dr. Karen Thompson, Oregon State University, analyzed several years of state-level student data from Oregon and Michigan to determine whether and to what extent English Learners were less likely than their peers to be enrolled in the core content they need to graduate—a phenomenon known as exclusionary tracking—as well as possible contributing variables. Because the analysis examines students across two states, as well as structural, organizational, and demographic features that might play a role, the analysis serves as the first comprehensive, longitudinal analysis of the phenomenon of exclusionary tracking.
This new analysis, using 2013–18 school year data from Oregon and 2011–14 school year data from Michigan, compares high school English Learner enrollment rates in districts throughout both states to those students who were either formerly classified as English Learners or never so classified.
Among the key findings:
In Oregon, only 55 percent of English Learner students were enrolled in all core courses (English language arts, math, science, and social studies) in a given year, compared to 69 percent of former English Learner students and 67 percent of never English Learners.
English Learner students in Oregon experienced exclusionary tracking across all four subject areas.
In Michigan, 66 percent of English Learner students were enrolled in all core courses, compared to 71 percent of students never classified as English Learners.
In more recent years, Oregon and Michigan have implemented a variety of initiatives to increase English Learner access to core content, including building teacher capacity for educating multilingual students and expanding bilingual content course options.
“Course exclusion to any degree may in and of itself prohibit those classified as ‘English Learners’ from having a chance to graduate, go on to higher education, and subsequently obtain professional jobs, higher salaries and a better quality of life,” said Umansky.
“Our research also reveals that an important opportunity exists for states, districts and schools nationally to evaluate how and why exclusionary tracking patterns are playing out locally,” added Thompson. “That understanding is essential to the work of removing barriers and improving educational opportunities for English Learners.”
Although the exclusionary tracking patterns varied across the districts and states studied, students with lower English language proficiency levels, those in special education, and those who were newcomers were most likely to be underenrolled in core courses.
The total relative population of English Learners is growing. The percentage of public school students in the United States who were English Learners rose from 9.4 percent in 2011 to 10.6 percent in 2021, according to the National Center on Educational Statistics. In 2021, more than 5.3 million English Learners were enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States.
English Learners have the right to equal access to school and equal participation in all programs and activities. Despite this, several previous smaller studies at the school or district level found that, on average, English Learner classification results in less access to curricular content and lower graduation rates and postsecondary outcomes. For example, researchers report that English Learners:
experience more exclusion from English language arts compared to other subject areas,
lack the same access to advanced math and science classes, and
participate less than other students in elective courses.
This deep dive into exclusionary tracking comes on the heels of researchers’ 2023 discovery that Four Policy Levers May Increase English Learner Students’ Participation in Required Academic Courses. Both sets of findings are part of an ongoing Course Access study being conducted by Thompson and Umansky and funded by the Institute of Education Sciences.
Contact: Erica Lepping, WestEd
Phone: 310-594-6880
Email: eleppin@wested.org
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The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education, supports this research through Grant R305C200008 to WestEd. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. IES is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. IES is an independent and nonpartisan organization created by the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) of 2002, and it is the leading source of rigorous education research and evaluation. It consists of the National Center for Education Research (NCER), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER).
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