English-learners who complete language-acquisition courses—whether through an English-as-a-second-language program or bilingual education—within three years go on to have much more academic success than peers who remain in such courses for five or more years, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., came to that conclusion after examining Texas data that track all students from 1st grade to beyond high school.
So-called “quick-exiter” English-learners who attended Texas public schools all 12 grades scored highest among all ELL groups on the state math- and reading-proficiency tests. Long-term ELL students lagged at every grade level.
