\u201cCalifornia\u2019s English learners deserve excellent instruction to help them learn English, and a clear and fair pathway to reclassify when they reach the goal of proficiency in English,\u201d said\u00a0Assemblymember Darshana Patel<\/a>, D-San Diego, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, who introduced the bill Tuesday. \u201cOur reclassification process, which was established 50 years ago, needs reform to make it clear, consistent, fair and easy to implement.\u201d<\/p>\n Students are classified as English learners when they enter school if they speak a language other than English at home and do not pass the ELPAC, a test they must continue to take each year until they are reclassified as \u201cfluent English proficient.\u201d<\/p>\n California now requires students who are English learners to meet four different criteria before a school can \u201creclassify\u201d them: the student must get a 4, the highest score, on the ELPAC, a teacher must agree the student is proficient in English, the parents must be consulted, and the student must also show they have \u201cbasic skills\u201d that are comparable to those of their peers who are proficient in English.<\/p>\n In addition to eliminating the last three criteria for reclassification, AB 2555 would allow students with disabilities to show proficiency in other ways. It would also require school districts to meet with parents when their children are first classified as English learners to explain what their children should be receiving under the law and how the reclassification process works.<\/p>\n In 2021-22 and 2022-23, about 18,500 students statewide annually scored 4 on the ELPAC but remained English learners the following year \u2014 about 18% of the students who scored 4, according to research from the University of Oregon.<\/p>\n Removing \u2018basic skills\u2019 requirement recommended<\/p>\n Researchers from\u00a0Stanford University,<\/a>\u00a0WestEd<\/a>\u00a0and the University of Oregon recommended during a\u00a0recent webinar<\/a>\u00a0that California eliminate the \u201cbasic skills\u201d requirement because their studies show it appears to be a major barrier to reclassifying students, even after they score a 4 on the ELPAC.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not clear it\u2019s needed, and it\u2019s not clear it\u2019s fair,\u201d said Molly Faulkner-Bond, research director for English learner and migrant education services at WestEd. She and other researchers also said the state should consider removing the requirements for teacher and parent input.<\/p>\n Researchers shared the results of the three studies at the webinar. A separate report from the\u00a0Public Policy Institute of California<\/a>\u00a0also recommends that the state consider either using a single criterion or allowing students to meet just one of the existing criteria rather than all four.\u00a0<\/p>\n Districts measure basic skills in different ways. Some require students to meet or exceed the standard on the Smarter Balanced Assessment for California (SBAC) in English Language Arts; others accept lower scores on that test; others require another assessment, like a reading test; and some require both.<\/p>\n Researchers from\u00a0Stanford University<\/a>\u00a0worked with nine districts near the university and found that 39% of students in those districts who scored 4 on the ELPAC were not reclassified the next year. Diana Mercado-Garcia, director of the Stanford-Sequoia K-12 Research Collaborative, said this was surprising for district leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cA key assumption had been that EL and LTEL students were simply not performing well on measures of English language proficiency, and we were finding that for a good chunk of them that actually wasn\u2019t the case,\u201d Mercado-Garcia said. (EL stands for English learner, and LTEL stands for long-term English learner, a term for students who have been enrolled in U.S. schools for more than six years and have not yet achieved proficiency.)<\/p>\n Ilana Umansky, associate professor of education at the University of Oregon, examined student data from the California Department of Education from 2021-22 and 2022-23 for about 112,077 students in 76 districts, a sample she said was representative of the state, and found that the students most likely to be held back because of the basic skills criteria, even though they had achieved a 4 on the ELPAC, were middle and high school students and those in rural areas.<\/p>\n When students are not reclassified, they may be locked out of accessing advanced courses and electives, particularly in middle and high school. Umansky said it also can affect students\u2019 motivation and engagement in school.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBeing held in EL status once English proficient can impact you in different ways,\u201d said Umansky. \u201cYour sense of belonging in school, whether you feel like you\u2019re valued, whether you want to be there, whether you think the instructional settings you\u2019re in are challenging and exciting, whether you\u2019re allowed to enroll in electives, all these things.\u201d<\/p>\n Possible link to truancy<\/p>\n In her research, she also found that students held in English learner status after reaching proficiency on the ELPAC were more likely to be truant.<\/p>\n Umansky said she is excited about the new bill.<\/p>\n \u201cIt simplifies reclassification criteria for the state and focuses on English proficiency, which is what reclassification by definition should be evaluated on,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know from our research and from lots of other research that the larger the number of criteria and the more complex the criteria, the more likely students are going to be held in EL status past when they\u2019re benefiting from the services and past when they\u2019re English proficient.\u201d<\/p>\n One reason some advocates have pushed to keep more criteria in the past is that they were concerned that students could lose services they need and may not do as well in school. But\u00a0a report<\/a>\u00a0from WestEd analyzed how well students performed on standardized tests after achieving a score of 4 on the ELPAC and found that these students outperformed peers who only spoke English at home with similar levels of parent education and family income.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat these data suggest is that English learners who can meet ELPAC overall level 4 are already showing that they can meet academic standards,\u201d said Faulkner-Bond.<\/p>\n WestEd and University of Oregon researchers found no academic benefit to remaining in English learner status after achieving proficiency.<\/p>\n California has had these same criteria since 1976. Forty-four other states have only one criteria \u2014 English language proficiency, according to WestEd.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that California is so out of step is notable,\u201d said Faulkner-Bond. She said the idea behind having four criteria is to make sure services aren\u2019t removed that can help students do better in school.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think that the evidence today overwhelmingly suggests that that is not really how this policy is functioning,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it is worth considering making a change.\u201d<\/p>\n Reclassification system is overly complicated<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774227620_410_LNM-20240812-EDSOURCELOGO-01.jpg\")
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