The arrival of new English learners in Delaware schools contributed to positive academic performance in current and former English learners and had no adverse effects on non-EL students, according to a study conducted by Rand Corp. and published this month in a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association.
Researchers found positive spillover effects of new EL students on the test scores of existing students in receiving schools in the first year, especially in reading. Much of this positive impact was concentrated among both former and current English learners.
Some of the reasons for this outcome, the study's authors theorized, include:
- An increase in the number of EL students might lead to more funding for a school, including resources for EL instruction.
- Having newly arriving EL students could prompt teachers to use instructional strategies that are more effective for EL students, such as more explicit language acquisition lessons.
- Existing EL students might benefit from new ELs who may be academically motivated and also add to existing EL's social connections.
To conduct the study, researchers looked at English and math assessment data from the Delaware Department of Education covering all K-12 students enrolled between the 2015–16 and 2018–19 school years.
The data included English and math scores on Delaware’s Smarter Balanced assessment, the state’s annual test for grade 3-8 students, as well as results from annual English proficiency assessments for EL students in grades K-12.
Delaware's EL public school student population has increased from 2% in 2000 to 11% in 2019, accounting for about half of the overall enrollment growth in Delaware public schools during that time frame. This population growth occurred even though Delaware is not a traditional destination state for EL students like California and New York.
The study is possibly the first to analyze the academic impacts of sizable population growth of ELs in a new destination state over the past two decades, the authors said. Nationally, the EL student population grew by 35% between 2000 and 2019.
As the EL student population increases in new destination states — and as immigration continues to be a contentious political topic — it is important to understand the "spillover effects" on communities and how those might differ from impacts seen in traditional destination states, the study said.
"Our findings contradict the narrative that the arrival of EL students lowers student performance overall,” said Umut Ozek, the study's co-author and a senior economist at Rand, in a statement. “While new ELs may require additional educational resources initially, they do not harm the academic achievement of existing students.”
Ozek added that while any type of student population boom can strain school districts as they add academic and social supports, the study should "assuage concerns by state and federal policy makers that large inflows of recent immigrants may be overwhelming school districts and harming classroom achievement.”
Earlier this year, a national coalition of educators, researchers and advocates launched the National Newcomer Network Policy Platform to encourage support for newly arrived students to the U.S. and to make recommendations for their civil rights protections and services.
