ESSA Pulse Check:

In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) ushered in a new era of federal accountability for English learners (ELs). For the first time states were required to include an English language proficiency (ELP) indicator that measures whether ELs are making sufficient progress towards English proficiency and were required to include ELs’ academic performance in school accountability systems, among other provisions.

Another less talked about ESSA component was the requirement that states establish long-term goals for every subgroup of students on all academic subjects, including the ELP indicator. Though these goals were mostly symbolic, as there are no enforcement or accountability mechanisms linked to them, states were required to report a baseline for each indicator and set a timeline and target about where they expect EL performance to be at some point in the future. According to a scan of ESSA plans, 11 states expected to have made progress by 2022, four states by 2023, and one state (Florida) set their long-term target year as 2020 when ESSA plans were initially approved. The analysis that follows reflects the progress of these states.

As Table 1 shows, each state varied greatly in terms of their baseline, target goal, and actual performance. All but three states (California, Iowa, and New York) use the WIDA ACCESS assessment to measure ELs’ progress toward English proficiency. ELP indicator goals were most often defined in terms of the percentage of ELs statewide that would be meeting their annual growth targets or “on track” to exit within their personalized timeline. However, Colorado used a more complicated measure: “reducing the gap of students on-track between baseline and 80 percent by 25 percent by 2022.” To calculate an actual performance goal here, we had to find the gap between baseline (67.6 percent) and 80 percent, which was 12.4 percent in grades K–5, and multiply that by .25 which resulted in a gap of 3.1 percentage points. Another state that differed was Utah which set different goals for different grade bands.

This personalization makes it difficult, if not impossible, to compare long-term ELP indicator performance across states because as the table shows, these measures are not apples to apples. Additionally, the level of complexity about how some of these goals were framed reflect a lack of transparency and accessibility in helping the public understand ELs’ progress.

Table 1. States’ ELP baseline, target goal and year compared to actual performance

Only one state (Colorado) appears to have partially met their ELP long-term goal, and Utah almost met their goal for high school ELs. Four states did not meet their goal (Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, and Iowa), and seven states (California, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, and Wisconsin) saw actual performance fall below their baseline, widening the original performance gap. It should be noted that some states had larger gaps to close between their baseline and target performance, like Alabama, Utah, and Nevada, while others had less progress to make, like Colorado, Iowa, and New Jersey. Additionally, changes in assessment systems may be responsible for data inconsistencies. For example, California transitioned to a new ELP assessment in 2018 and was in the process of changing its reclassification criteria when their ESSA plan was developed. This means that the baseline included in their plan from 2015 was based on a different ELP assessment which may explain why their actual performance in 2022 was significantly below their reported baseline. Because of this, it may not be possible to calculate a gap between their baseline and long-term goal.

Due to the COVID pandemic, ED allowed states to submit an addendum to their ESSA plans for the 2021–22 school year and permitted them to shift their long-term timelines forward by one or two years. Of the 15 states that set their target year to be 2023 (or earlier) nine states (Alabama, California, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Utah, Wisconsin) opted for the two-year extension. It is unlikely that this two-year extension will buy these states enough time to meet their performance targets given the sizable gaps in EL performance.

When structured correctly, ELP indicators can provide a snapshot of whether EL students, either at the school, district, or state level, are making adequate progress in their English language development from one year to the next in order to be reclassified in a timely manner and in line with their personalized timeline to proficiency. If students do not make sufficient progress, they run the risk of continuing to be denied access to more rigorous and advanced coursework and being labeled long-term ELs. Moving forward, it is important that states not only publicly report data that shows whether ELs as a group are meeting their annual growth targets, but that they do so in a manner that is accessible and transparent to the public. Furthermore, it is important that the data reported are aligned with how their respective long-term goals were crafted. This will make it easier to track whether schools and districts are helping these students develop the academic English necessary to equitably engage in their education.

For more information about states' EL accountability policies, please visit our English Learner Accountability Hub.

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Additional Notes:

Nevada

Nevada’s original goals was to have “90% of ELs exit status within six years and 90% of long-term ELs exit status.” However, their ESSA accountability portal only reports on the percentage of ELs deemed proficient and the percentage of ELs meeting their growth targets on the ELP assessment, therefore Table 1 reflects these two goals. Additionally, Nevada’s COVID addendum stated that 2022 would be a year of interim progress and 2024 would be the new long-term year target, though the goals remain the same.

Wisconsin

Table 1 reflects Wisconsin’s adjusted long-term goal which was extended by two years due to COVID. Wisconsin’s original target goal for 2022 was to have 79 percent of ELs on-track to proficiency.