Identifying English Learners in Pre-K: State Policies, Rationale, and Practices

Last fall, we released a national scan of state-level policies for identifying English learners (ELs) in state pre-K programs.[1] Our goal was to build a better understanding of the extent to which states are screening and identifying young ELs, the tools used for screening, and how these processes relate to those used at kindergarten entry. We found that 23 states (including DC) have established a process for screening and identifying pre-K students as ELs, but there is considerable variability in how states screen and identify young ELs.

To learn more about how the screening process is playing out in different states, we conducted interviews with education staff in six states, three of which require screening for EL status in pre-K (IL, MA, and TX); one of which offers guidance for screening (VT); and two of which neither require nor offer guidance for screening (DE, NM). We also spoke with advocates in California and Illinois who are seeking to influence state-level decisions on EL screening in pre-K and with representatives from WIDA and ELPA21 which develop and provide English language proficiency screeners and assessments to over 45 states and territories.

Pre-K screening is often tied to instructional mandates and funding

Within the federal legal framework, states have considerable discretion in setting policies and practices for many aspects of EL education. These state-level requirements influence decisions about whether to screen young children for EL status and to provide them with language instruction services in pre-K. Consider: at least five states, including Illinois and Texas, have bilingual mandates that require schools and districts to provide access to a bilingual program if they meet a specified threshold of EL enrollment. As Amy Johnson, policy and engagement coordinator in the Division of Emergent Bilingual Support at the Texas Education Agency, explained, this policy applies to state pre-K programs. She said that students identified as English learners in pre-K are required by law to have access to language services, either through a state approved English as a Second Language (ESL) program model or state approved bilingual program model and be taught by a teacher certified in ESL or bilingual education.

At the same time, EL identification in pre-K is often connected to funding. State agency representatives from Illinois, Massachusetts, and Vermont told us about the funding systems that drive their education spending, including allocations based on the number of ELs and pre-K students. But there were differences in whether federal Title III funding was used to support these students, even though preschool is an allowable use. Tying screening to funding matters because it means that there are resources to support these students’ language development from an early age, including bilingual programs that allow them to maintain and continue developing their home language.

Decisions about screening process and tools driven by multiple factors

In the states that require or allow pre-K screening, five English language proficiency (ELP) screeners are primarily used, including the Pre-IPT, pre-LAS and Oklahoma Pre-Kindergarten Screening Tool (PKST). Decisions about which screeners to use are based on multiple factors. Massachusetts and Vermont made their decisions based on the developmental needs of pre-K children during testing administration. Massachusetts uses a modified version of the PKST because other screening tools were too time-consuming to administer, particularly for young children. It became a struggle to meet federal requirements that parents be notified of their child’s identification and placement in a language instruction program within 30 days of screening, a staff member at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, told us. In Vermont, state guidance initially pointed districts to the WIDA Screener for Kindergarten, but this advice was rescinded based on discussions with practitioners who felt that it was not developmentally appropriate for pre-K students.[2]

Screening procedures may also be driven by statute. Illinois statute specifies the screening procedures that must be followed to determine whether a preschool student is eligible for bilingual services. These include the fact that speaking and listening must be assessed; screeners should be research-based, developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive; and multiple measures should be used. As Joanne Clyde, director of the Multilingual/Language Development Department at the Illinois State Board of Education said, “We cannot ensure educational equity for our English learner students until we identify who they are and what their needs are.”

States that do not screen pre-K students do so based largely on the appropriateness of testing young children who are still developing their language skills. State agency staff in New Mexico told us that it is important to give young children the most time possible to develop their language prior to screening. And so, children are first screened at kindergarten entry, and even then, only assessed for oral language (e.g., listening and speaking), Mayra Valtierrez, director of language and culture at the state’s department of education, told us. But this doesn’t mean that early learning programs are overlooking the needs of multilingual learners. As part of the registration process, families are asked which languages are spoken in the home to ensure that providers are aware of and can be responsive to their language needs.

Advocates help influence state policies for young language learners

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently allocated $10 million towards the use of language screeners for multilingual learners in Transitional Kindergarten (TK) in his January budget proposal. This is the latest development in ongoing discussions and actions related to screening TK students who need language development support.[3] Early Edge California has been a key voice advocating on behalf of these children and the need for the state to devise a developmentally appropriate strategy for screening their language support needs in both English and their home language. “We need to have a systematic way of identifying them that is ideally asset-based, where we're really focused on the potential to become bilingual and biliterate as opposed to saying that you're deficient in English and need to improve your English,” said Carolyne Crolotte, director of policy at Early Edge. She and her colleagues are supporting the California State Board of Education and the California Department of Education in their efforts to identify an appropriate screener.

Advocates in Illinois are working to strengthen the educational experiences of ELs in early childhood. The Latino Policy Forum is leading the way through a research practice partnership with the Illinois Workforce and Education Collaborative, Western Illinois University, EC-REACH at Northwestern, and 13 early childhood centers. This project has two components: (1) a landscape study of multilingual identification and service provision in early childhood across the state and (2) an action research project to develop and test new identification procedures and new professional development for early childhood staff. The new procedures include a family language interview tool for families of children ages birth to three years old which helps providers learn about the role of language in the home and a language observational tool for children ages birth to five years old to help understand how children use their home language in play. The community-based sites are also implementing an identification and screening process for English learners that is required in preschool programs housed in public school districts. Of critical importance, all the teachers in the 13 sites have access to five professional development modules that will help them better understand and support language learners in their classrooms. This work will inform policy as the State of Illinois develops a new early childhood agency.

Yet, the Forum also recognizes the potential barriers to adding additional screening practices. “Our biggest worry is that ECE educators understand the reason for screening and identifying children who need additional English language supports and provide them with strategies that help them support children in their classrooms,” said Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, vice president of education policy and research at the Forum. She continued, “It’s also important we test this out with the educators on the ground, get their feedback, and improve the process, tools, and professional development.”

More guidance is needed

A common theme among the state leaders we interviewed was the lack of federal guidance on best practices for screening young children’s proficiency in English and their home languages. States differed in their interpretations of whether and how to include pre-K students within federally mandated services. In the absence of federal guidance, some look to other states to identify best practices and potential screeners.

Many also voiced their hopes that WIDA would develop a pre-K screener, which would ease their concerns about finding appropriate assessments. In 2015-16, WIDA engaged in preliminary work to explore the development of a pre-K screener, but decided not to move forward with the project. According to Mark Chapman, senior innovation researcher at WIDA, one of the main concerns was how practical and implementable the tools would be. “We had a fairly extensive language background survey for families,” he said, “and there were some observational protocols, some play-based assessment tools. There were just concerns about the length of time and the burden that they would place to gather meaningful language data on these very young learners.” These are important considerations, given capacity and resource constraints that can limit the implementation of comprehensive screening tools.

In addition to the potential burden of administering language screeners, there are several other considerations for state leaders to take into account when deciding whether and how to screen young children for EL status. These include the availability of developmentally appropriate screeners that can offer a reliable and valid assessment of the child’s language skills. A child’s language develops over time and can be influenced by different factors. Several interviewees expressed concerns about screening young children for EL status while they are still developing language. Ideally, pre-K students would be screened and assessed in both their home language and English to provide a complete inventory of their linguistic repertoire. By having a full picture of what they know and can do, programs would be able to make informed decisions about how best to support their language and literacy development.

Endnotes

[1] We use the term English learners (EL) in this blog post because it is the term used in federal policy. We recognize that there are many other terms used in the field, including multilingual learners and dual language learners (often used to describe children between birth to age five who are learning English in addition to their home language).

[2] The WIDA Consortium does not recommend that the kindergarten screener be used for the purposes of screening and identifying children enrolled in pre-K.

[3] The state has devised a separate process for screening and identifying young language learners in California State Preschool Programs (CSPP), which is a separate early childhood program than transitional kindergarten. For more on the identification process used in CSPP, see Leslie Villegas, “Dual Language Learner Identification in California Moves One Step Closer to Reality,” EdCentral (blog), New America, August 25, 2022, https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/dual-language-learner-identification-in-california-moves-one-step-closer-to-reality/