Evidence Use in Action: English Learner Reclassification
TLDR: Reclassification from “English Learner” to “Fully English Proficient” is a significant milestone for K-12 students learning English as an additional language, as it often opens access to mainstream academic coursework. The reclassification process is just one example of sometimes subtle or overlooked ways in which evidence gets used every day in schools to make decisions with major consequences for students.
Most children and youth who enter U.S. schools speaking a language other than English are formally designated, under federal law, as English learner students. Once they demonstrate English proficiency, students identified as English learners are eligible to exit this status through a process called “reclassification.” Reclassification is a significant milestone, as it opens access to mainstream academic coursework, which is often inaccessible to students designated as English learners. The reclassification is just one example of the many but often overlooked ways evidence is used every day in schools to make consequential decisions for students.
Reclassification eligibility does not necessarily result in automatic exit from English learner status. Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), standardized criteria to determine when a student has achieved English proficiency must be set by the state. From there, the state or a school district must formally exit students from English learner status using either a manual or an automatic reclassification process.
Manual versus Automatic Reclassification
Currently, manual reclassification is used by all but a handful of states. States set a minimum threshold, typically on a standardized English proficiency exam such as the WIDA ACCESS assessment, to determine English proficiency. From there, however, a teacher must recommend a student for reclassification, initiating a process through which school staff and district administrators decide whether students meet additional state or locally determined criteria.
Automatic reclassification procedures, on the other hand, use state administrative data to automatically identify and reclassify students meeting assessment-based exit criteria once their standardized test scores are received. This is called an automatic or default policy because districts must opt out students who meet reclassification criteria, as opposed to manual procedures, which require districts to actively opt students in to reclassification.
Two recent articles that crossed my desk each tell a story about how evidence gets used, under manual or automatic reclassification procedures, with hugely consequential implications for students learning English as another language.
Manual Reclassification: An Obstacle to Academic Success?
The first article details the experiences of a former English learner program director in a large Colorado school district who noticed that many district English learner students meeting English proficiency assessment criteria for reclassification nonetheless remained in the English learner program. In addition to the WIDA ACCESS exam, the district reclassification criteria included students’ performance on two other measures, as required by the state. But the former director claimed that the two additional measures were used inconsistently and without transparent criteria. Some district administrators refute these claims, but even beyond this district, numerous research studies from several states demonstrate that many eligible students remain classified as English learners under manual reclassification processes.
Automatic Reclassification: Emergent Evidence
In contrast, researchers studying English-learner reclassification rates in Michigan found that when Michigan recently switched to an automatic reclassification policy, students who met the state assessment criteria were 35 percentage points more likely to reclassify than they were under the old manual reclassification procedures. Michigan’s automatic policy allows state data systems to identify students for automatic reclassification based on test data, but schools are still able provide additional rationale as to why a student shouldn’t be reclassified if they feel the student isn’t ready. The researchers did not study how students reclassified under Michigan’s new policy fared academically, but other research conducted in California finds that, in general, the sooner English learners are reclassified once they meet proficiency assessment criteria, the better they do academically in the long run.
These two stories exemplify how the same evidence can be used in schools to make decisions that have quite different consequences for students.
Using Evidence Effectively Today During Reclassification
What does all this suggest about improving how evidence is used for English learner reclassification based on what we know right now?
Whatever process is used, school and district staff must be adequately prepared to apply the process in a uniform manner and consistently across students. Criteria for reclassification should be transparent to teachers, students, and families.
Imposing fewer exit criteria beyond meeting state-defined thresholds on standardized English language proficiency assessment may allow English learner students to access mainstream curricula sooner and result in better long-term outcomes for these students.
Finally, state and district education leaders would be wise to pay close attention to emerging research results about the potential benefits of automatic reclassification policy.