Improving Educational Outcomes of English Language Learners in Schools and Programs in Boston Public Schools. Executive Summary

English language learners (ELLs), their teachers, and the schools and programs where they are enrolled face a triple challenge: (1) students must be taught and learn English at a level of proficiency high enough to allow them access to academic content; (2) students must be taught and learn academic content at a level comparable to that of English proficient students; and (3) students must actively engage with learning and schools and programs must effectively engage students so that they graduate from high school. "Improving Educational Outcomes of English Language Learners in Schools and Programs in Boston Public Schools" seeks to assess the academic performance of English language learners in Boston Public Schools in relation to these three challenges. It compares the achievement of ELLs with that of other BPS populations defined by English proficiency and assesses the outcomes of ELLs enrolled in different programs and types of schools. This study was commissioned by the Boston Public Schools as part of a process of change set in motion by the intervention of the state and the federal governments on behalf of Boston's English language learners in 2009 and 2010 (MDESE, 2008a; U.S. Department of Justice, 2010). The project was conducted at the request of the Office for English Language Learners (OELL) and is a collaboration among this Office, the Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston. The study addresses the following areas: (1) the enrollment patterns of ELLs in Boston between SY2006 and SY2009; (2) the engagement and academic outcomes of ELLs compared to those of other BPS student populations; (3) the engagement and academic outcomes of ELLs in different types of programs and schools of different characteristics; and (4) the analysis of the individual- and school-level factors most relevant to the outcomes of ELLs. In order to address these questions, the study uses a dataset compiled from several data sources and merged especially for this project which includes (1) demographic and enrollment information from the Student Information Management System (SIMS) on each BPS student enrolled for each school year (SY2006 to SY2009); (2) testing data from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and for students of limited English proficiency, the Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA); (3) school