How can states best serve recently arrived English learner students in state accountability systems? This paper provides a range of ideas, resources, and tools.

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 defines recently arrived English learners (RA ELs) as English learner students who have been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than 12 months. The law permits states to select from several options for including these students in state academic achievement accountability systems.

This paper, co-authored by Robert Linquanti, illustrates how states can explore these options using empirical analyses based on guidelines from a recently published federal guide. Such analyses can help states decide how best to serve RA ELs in state accountability systems.

The paper:

  • Reviews examples of RA EL accountability options consistent with federal law and guidance as of March 2017
  • Illustrates how to model and evaluate these accountability options using state data

An appendix presents detailed tables and statistical programming code that states can use to empirically explore the accountability options.