How Far behind in Math and Reading Are English Language Learners? Report.

Abstract

As Congress considers the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, an analysis of recent data from standardized testing around the country shows that the fast growing number of students designated as English language learners (ELL) are among those farthest behind. The analysis of national standardized testing scores shows that about 51% of 8 th grade ELL students are behind whites in reading and math, meaning that the scores for one out of every two will have to improve for the group to achieve parity. In the 4th grade, 35% of ELL students are behind in math and 47% are behind in reading when compared with their white counterparts. The analysis of demographic data shows that important changes in the composition of the limited English speaking population take place between the 4th and 8th grades, which help explain the decline in achievement from elementary to middle school. Many students are moved out of limited English speaking status as they acquire language skills while many newly arrived immigrant children are added to the group. About this report: The achievement analysis is based on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” and 35 state-administered assessments mandated by the No Child Left Behind law. The report also uses demographic data, for the nation and for some states, to analyze some of the characteristics of limited English speaking students. About the Pew Hispanic Center: Founded in 2001, the Pew Hispanic Center is a nonpartisan research organization supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Pew Hispanic Center’s mission is to improve understanding of the diverse Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the nation. The Pew Hispanic Center is a project of the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan fact tank in Washington, D.C., that provides information on the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping America and the world; it does not advocate for or take positions on policy issues.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 98 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.