The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires schools to ensure that highly qualified teachers provide effective instructional services that will result in measurable progress in both English language acquisition and academic progress for limited English proficient (LEP) students.

At the request of the Idaho State Department of Education, REL Northwest conducted a comprehensive analysis of the English proficiency of the state’s LEP student population. The resulting report, published in January 2012, will help Idaho officials make decisions about resource allocation, professional development, and instructional practice.

REL Northwest researchers based their study on statewide results on the Idaho English Language Assessment (IELA), the federally mandated annual assessment Idaho administers to all LEP students. They examined the distribution of LEP students in Idaho across five proficiency levels (from beginning to fluent), on the IELA in 2010 and compared it with results for 2007. The study showed how the distribution varied by grade spans for five domains measured on the IELA: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. The research team also compared results across subgroups of LEP students, including by gender, participation in the free or reduced-price lunch program, Spanish as the primary language, enrollment in a U.S. public school for the first time in the previous 12 months, migrant status, and enrollment in special education.

Among the key findings were:

• Most LEP students had an intermediate, early fluent, or fluent level of proficiency. Students at these levels can participate in classroom activities, although they still require support, particularly with the development of academic English.
• Some LEP student subgroups had achievement patterns that differed from the pattern of the overall LEP student population. In each grade span, more female LEP students than male LEP students scored at the early fluent or fluent level.
• Except in kindergarten, students new to U.S. schools within the previous 12 months and students in special education had lower levels of English language proficiency than did other LEP student subgroups.

English Language Proficiency Levels of Limited English Proficient Students in Idaho was carried out under Education Northwest’s 2006–2011 contract with the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, which operates the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) program. All of the reports published by REL Northwest and the nation’s nine other RELs can be downloaded from our online compendium.

February 17, 2012