Las Americas Middle School is a newcomer program within Houston Independent School District (HISD) that serves students in Grades 4 through 8 who have been in the U.S. for less than one year. As a non-zoned school of choice, Las Americas has no attendance boundary, meaning that students and families must opt to enroll in the school. This brief…

Newcomer programs aim to serve newly arrived immigrant students by providing specialized instruction and nonacademic support beyond what is offered in traditional English learner classrooms. In Houston ISD, Las Americas is a standalone program that serves newcomer students in grades 4-8. Given the growth of newly arrived immigrant students in the…

Previous studies about ELs have reported data on active English Learners--defined as those students who have not yet reached proficiency on a state English test--at a specific moment in time. This study, for the first time, analyzed the long-term trajectories of 18,000 CPS students who began kindergarten as ELs and followed their progress all the…

This report examines the population of Alaska Native students who are classified as English learner (EL) students and how EL policies function for these students, focusing on EL identification, classification, service provision, and reclassification as fluent English proficient. Alaska is one of several states where Indigenous students make up a…

This study hypothesized that HISD prekindergarten participation consistently correlated with better educational outcomes for students. Taking into account students' age differences through kindergarten enrollment, propensity score matching controlled for students' background characteristics. Three cohorts of students in this study were eligible or…

This report describes the relationships among English proficiency, economic status, and student performance on the 2007 Science Texas Assessment of Academic Knowledge and Skills for students in Austin Independent School District.