Closing the Achievement Gap Between English Learners and Native English Speakers

The English Learner Group is excited to announce the completion of a doctoral study focused on measuring the impact of our group’s work in classrooms and districts.

Four doctoral students from California State University Channel Islands and California State University Fresno researched the SBAC data in English Language Arts for two school years, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, in a handful of our client districts. The data from our clients in these two years can be reviewed here.

Two major takeaways:

• The average growth of EL achievement growth was 340% higher in The English Learner Group’s client schools and districts than the growth of ELs throughout California.

• While the EL achievement gap for English Learners increased throughout the state, the EL achievement gap for English Learners in our client schools and districts decreased.

The public achievement data used was from the following clients:

Alvina School | Caruthers, CA

Burton Schools | Porterville, CA

Central Unified School District | Fresno, CA

Kerman Unified School District | Kerman, CA

Kings Canyon Unified School District | Reedley, Orange Cove, and Dunlap, CA

Lemoore Union Elementary School District | Lemoore, CA

Porterville Unified School District | Porterville, CA

Visalia Unified School District | Visalia

Our team of twenty-five consultants are honored to serve the administrators and teachers that instruct English Learners in our client districts in California and Hawaii! If you would like to see the details of the study or inquire regarding a conversation around how we may be able to support the English Learners in your school district, we’d love to connect with you.

Sam Nofziger, Ed.D.