MIAMI — Schoolchildren who are still learning English made progress on state tests over the past three years, according to a report that may indicate tougher accountability standards have resulted in positive gains among a growing segment of the U.S. public-school population.
In a study released today, the nonprofit Center on Education Policy looked at the performance of English-language learners — students with limited English skills — on state tests in math and reading from 2006 to 2008, the years after federal testing for this group under the federal No Child Left Behind law became finalized.
The study notes gains across many states: Twenty-five of 35 states with sufficient data made gains in fourth-grade reading among English-language learners. In grades four and eight in reading and math, 70 percent of those states made gains in the number of students scoring as “proficient.”
