August 22, 2024
Researchers are finding key longitudinal levers to improve educational opportunities for English learners in the area of “reclassification,” or decisions to reclassify “English learners” to “English proficient.” Specifically, the opportunity is to consistently use new research-based tools across schools statewide to run a more meaningful analysis of a student’s readiness to be reclassified. This analysis considers evidence of how students have been using language in the classroom.
Why Reclassification Matters So Much. Labels like “English learner” affect the opportunities a given student receives. While the label can trigger access to beneficial language supports and programs, research has also consistently found that students labeled as English learners may lose access to grade-level instruction and rigorous learning opportunities.
“The problem is twofold: ‘EL’ status can be beneficial for students—particularly those who are in the earliest stages of learning English—but it can also be costly,” explains Molly Faulkner-Bond of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15CC) and research director for WestEd’s English Learner and Migrant Education Services.
“Remaining an EL for a prolonged period may affect the opportunity to learn, particularly in middle school and beyond. And yet, students who are reclassified too soon may struggle subsequently to meet academic content standards if services are taken away too soon. In short, we want to make sure ELs get services for as long as is useful—and no longer.”
Today, under ESSA, states are required to set “standardized statewide entrance and exit procedures” (Section 3111(b)(2)(A)) and articulate a maximum timeline to English language proficiency (Section 1111(c)(4)(A)(ii)). In response to this mandate, many states have opted to simplify their reclassification criteria and use only students’ scores on large-scale, standardized assessments of English language proficiency.
This approach ensures simplicity and standardization, but it fails to take into account how, when, and whether that student is actually using English to communicate on a daily basis.
California, home to one of the largest populations of multilingual learners (1.1 million English learners) is on the forefront of supporting educators to make consistent reclassification decisions that consider evidence beyond just a standardized English language proficiency assessment.
This year, the California Department of Education (CDE) is rolling out a new tool to help schools accurately, fairly, and consistently incorporate information about how English learner–classified students use language in the classroom. Called the Observation Protocol for Teachers of English Learners (OPTEL), the tool is designed to ensure that teacher input remains part of California’s reclassification process while standardizing the inclusion of this information to support compliance with the ESSA mandate for standardized entrance and exit procedures.
The OPTEL was jointly developed, piloted, and validated through a partnership between the CDE, R15CC, and WestEd. The OPTEL received unanimous approval from the State Board of Education in November 2023.
The OPTEL makes more accurate and equitable reclassification decisions possible. Reclassification decisions in California are based on four criteria: teacher evaluation; parent input; comparison of basic skills to non–English learner peers; and scores on the ELPAC, the annual English Language Proficiency Assessments for California.
The ELPAC is an objective language proficiency assessment measurement instrument that provides a snapshot of proficiency, but it does not measure whether and to what degree students are using expressive and receptive language in the classroom daily.
“It is important to understand how well students can use language in different contexts,” reports Faulkner-Bond. “While the ELPAC is a valid and reliable measure of English language proficiency, there are limitations to what a standardized assessment can capture.”
The OPTEL is designed to support educators in determining and documenting a student’s proficiency as used in classroom settings over two linguistic dimensions:
- expressive skills (speaking and writing)
- receptive skills (listening and reading)
In addition to supporting reclassification decisions, the OPTEL provides a useful basis for formative assessment, parental consultation, and educator training.
The CDE developed the OPTEL to try to ensure that teacher input remains a part of the state’s reclassification while also meeting the federal requirement for statewide standardization. By offering a validated tool for all districts to use, the CDE is hoping to reduce the possibility that similar students in different districts experience different reclassification outcomes due to local differences in what teacher input their district collects.
In short, the OPTEL is meant to address equity concerns about which students are reclassified and why.
The instrument was calibrated to actual needs on the ground and was improved upon via field tests and iterative rounds of feedback from educators themselves. Classroom educators and district leaders from across California reviewed the OPTEL and shared information on their own current practice to inform the tool’s development.
The tool is also aligned with the state’s English language development standards and with achievement levels on the ELPAC. In a validation study of the OPTEL, the research team found that educators who observed the same student gave that student the same OPTEL ratings a majority of the time. Furthermore, more than 85 percent of educator participants reported that the OPTEL was easy or very easy to use and clear or very clear to understand and fill out.
Over the course of OPTEL development and launch, R15CC has supported the CDE in ensuring that educators understand what the tool is, how to use it, and why it supports improved instruction and more equitable reclassification outcomes. Specifically, R15CC has
- conducted listening sessions with hundreds of educators and leaders in the field;
- created and shared resources that help educators use the new tool, address identified concerns, and enable changes in practice; and
- provided data coaching to explore how to unpack state-level reclassification data to further benefit students (e.g., looking at how many children exited under previous criteria).
“R15CC brought deep content expertise and knowledge of the policy context generally,” noted Sarah Neville-Morgan, deputy superintendent of public instruction with the CDE. “And in California, specifically, R15 provided a team with knowledge and skills on English learner pedagogy to adult learning to data analysis to federal and state policy.”
Faulkner-Bond calls California’s new multimeasure approach “very robust and open-minded.”
“This is what it looks like when a state implements an evaluation policy that is aligned with a well-articulated vision,” she says.
Next Steps. The CDE plans to roll out a suite of resources to help educators implement the OPTEL in their local contexts. Built for administrators, coordinators, and other trainers at all levels, these materials will give leaders the tools they need to meaningfully build capacity within their systems for OPTEL implementation. Topics include formative assessment uses of the OPTEL, design of standards-aligned instruction, inclusive approaches to using the OPTEL to support dually identified students, and the centering of parents and caregivers in the reclassification process.
The range of topics speaks to the OPTEL’s potential as a tool not only for reclassification but also for improvement of teaching and learning for multilingual learners. This suite of materials will be available to educators across the state and include presentations, training videos, and other useful resources.
For details on California’s approach to reclassification, the OPTEL, and how it was iteratively designed, read California State Board of Education Approves Tool Related to English Learner Reclassification.
All states will benefit from asking whether their current approach to reclassification is still serving a larger, well-articulated vision for English learners given that assessments and criteria to exit students often shift. “Looking at data, can we confirm that these tools, and current assessment thresholds are still achieving the ends we want for students?” asks Faulkner-Bond. “If not, should we move thresholds—advocate toward different supports—drop a criterion?”
The U.S. Department of Education has also taken an interest in these questions and funded a large-scale study of reclassification policy on which Faulkner-Bond is a principal investigator. The Institute of Education Sciences expects to release a study in 2025 that explores the effects of various reclassification models across 30 states with the highest numbers of English learners. The objective is to see whether standardizing reclassification criteria at the state level has been good, bad, or indifferent for students and whether there are any patterns to which states and districts are producing positive outcomes and trajectories for English learner and former English learner students.
“We are looking for evidence regarding how students are doing when they reclassify—any relationship between stringency of criteria and what kids go on to do,” says Faulkner-Bond. “For example, is it good or bad to have local variation —how many are exiting, are they thriving afterwards—what do learning environments look like before and after exiting?”
Based on current learning, the goal, she adds, is for states to make data-informed decisions about their “Goldilocks” reclassification criteria—not too many, not too few, but whatever number and combination of criteria produces the “just right” outcomes of students who thrive in English learner status and continue to thrive after they leave it behind.
Related Resources for State Educational Agencies
- Coming this fall: R15CC will report additional evaluation evidence regarding the response to the OPTEL rollout and describe ways in which the OPTEL has increased coherence, communication, and collaboration across key agency divisions
- Archived OELA 2024 webinar on the reclassification of English learners
- REL Publication | Effects of Reclassifying English Learner Students on Student Achievement in New Mexico (ed.gov)
- National Evaluation of Title III Implementation Supplemental Report: Exploring Approaches to Setting English Language Proficiency Performance Criteria and Monitoring English Learner Progress
