Pushback against the perceived federal overreach into educational reform has led to renewed calls for a return to local control of schools. In contrast to this general trend, there has continued to be a strong national role for English learner (EL) accountability policies related to EL identification, monitoring and reclassification processes. In…

The Texas Education Code (§ 29.051) requires school districts to provide every language minority student with the opportunity to participate in either a bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) program. This evaluation report summarizes the performance of students who participated in the district's bilingual and ESL programs during the…

The purpose of this report is to provide information about the academic performance of emergent bilingual students in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). This document summarizes performance on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests, end-of-course (EOC) tests, the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment…

With over one million emergent bilinguals enrolled in Texas public schools, a call to action and a review of high-stakes online assessment policy for this student population is essential to achieve equity in education. The purpose of this phenomenological study aimed to explore teachers' perceptions of high-stakes online TELPAS testing and digital…

This report summarizes the academic performance of emergent bilingual students, also known as English learners, for the 2019-2020 school year, in the Austin Independent School District. Results are presented from the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), advanced placement (AP) course enrollment and exam performance,…

These are the appendixes for the report, "English Proficiency and the Pandemic: How Texas English Learner Students Fared during the COVID-19 Pandemic. REL 2023-144." This study examined levels of English proficiency before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among English learner students in grades 3-12 in Texas. In 2020-2021, nearly…

This study examined levels of English proficiency before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among English learner students in grades 3-12 in Texas. In 2020-2021, nearly 750,000 students in grades 3-12--approximately one in five Texas students--were English learner students. In accordance with Texas state law and the Every Student Succeeds Act,…

Castañeda v. Pickard (1981) mandated that educational programs for emergent bilinguals be tested for program efficacy. Since English language development (ELD) curricular materials are one part of an instructional program, we assess this mandate by examining the effectiveness of ELD materials in Texas. Using local linear matching, we find that…

This report presents third grade English language learner students' 2012-2013 STAAR and TELPAS results and provides a comparison by program type.

Sixty-two percent of AISD English Language Learner students (ELLs) demonstrated yearly progress toward English language proficiency, based on Spring 2013 TELPAS results. TELPAS is the state of Texas annual assessment of English language proficiency for ELLs.

This report provides a description of Austin Independent School District (AISD) English language learner (ELL) student enrollment in the district during school year 2011-2012, examines ELL progress in English proficiency and academic content areas, and evaluates the dual language program in its first year of district wide implementation. A…

Ten Austin Independent School District (AISD) elementary campuses implemented one-way and two-way dual language pilot programs in the 2010-2011 year. This report includes summaries of parent and staff's perception of its implementation, as well as students' levels of advancement in second language proficiency.

The performance data on long-term English language learners (ELLs) in AISD were mixed and suggest not all long-term ELLs were struggling in English proficiency or content area knowledge. A quarter of long-term ELLs received special education services.

The AISD level report highlights analyses results and strategies that address the interactions among factors influencing student performance. The 2008-2009 middle school level report presents results critical to student achievement at the middle school level.

Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) aimed to improve teacher practice and improve student outcomes at Lanier and International High Schools in AISD. Overall, QTEL was moderately effective based on the myriad of mixed program results.