0.7 Gallegos, c., & Wise, d. (september 2011). leadership for  (Page 6/18)

A lack of academic language and literacy is a major part of the problem. Zwiers (2004/2005) describes academic language as a third language specific to schools, textbooks, and assessments. According to Dutro and Kinsella (2010), academic language must include a focus on multiple meaning words and academic words that are high in frequency and apply across content areas (e.g., analysis ). Students need to learn to recognize, understand, and use these words in a variety of contexts in order to fully benefit from instruction and to have the ability to demonstrate their full range of knowledge on academic tests.

Standards, curriculum alignment, valid assessments, academic language, grammar, and vocabulary are all critical for these students. Moreover, awareness of culture and cultural bias are essential for schools working with diverse populations. Educational leaders must examine their own personal biases and ask staff to do the same (Lindsey, et al., 2005). Only when they understand their own biases can they develop ways to effectively work with students and families from diverse cultures. These are tools and processes that the effective school leader of today must have a working knowledge of.

English learners and accountability

NCLB not only requires that English learners show progress toward academic proficiency, it also requires that an English language development test be in use that is aligned to the English language development standards. In California, that assessment instrument is the CELDT (California English Language Development Test) which was developed in 2000 (California Department of Education, n.d.). The CELDT assesses English language proficiency in all four language domains: reading, writing, speaking, and listening (Questions, 2009). It also provides a common assessment instrument used across the state to measure growth in English proficiency (Mora, 2006). The CELDT uses a five level scale. Students receive an overall score and separate scores in each language domain.

The CELDT results not only provide data related to progress toward proficiency in English, they are also one of the four criteria taken into consideration when deciding whether a student is ready to be reclassified as fluent English proficient (RFEP) (California Department of Education, 2009a). The other three criteria include achievement in relation to peers who are English-only (those who speak English as a first and only language) and the input of the teacher and of the parent or guardian. Although students who are reclassified do not continue to take the CELDT, their academic progress continues to be monitored.

Research questions

This study examined the relationship of English language acquisition and achievement to determine if English learners are truly benefiting from the accountability measures so that school leaders can use the findings to ensure equitable practices for all students. Five questions were investigated:

1. How do the language acquisition levels of the English learner subgroup of each target school as measured by the CELDT relate to academic achievement of the English learner subgroup attending the same target school as measured by the California Standards Tests for each school year from 2006-07 to 2008-09?
2. How does the growth in English language arts achievement of the English learner subgroup of each target school relate to the growth in achievement of the overall school population attending the same target school for each school year from 2004-05 to 2008-09 as measured by the California Standards Tests?
3. How do the patterns of achievement of the overall populations of the target schools relate to the reclassification rates of the English learner subgroups attending the target schools for each school year from 2004-05 to 2008-09?
4. How does the percentage of English learners at a school relate to student achievement?
5. How does the percentage of English learners at a school relate to reclassification rates?