TY - JOUR
T1 - English learners reclassification and academic achievement
T2 - Evidence from Minnesota
AU - Onda, Masayuki
AU - Seyler, Edward
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Louis-Philippe Beland, Carter Hill, Nakamura Ryosuke, and seminar participants at the Minnesota Department of Education, Saint Cloud State University, Waseda University, Western Economic Association International 94th Annual Conference, the Southern Economic Association 89th Annual Meetings, the Tokyo Labor Economics Workshop for suggestions, and the Japanese Economic Association 2020 Spring Conference. We thank the Minnesota Department of Education for providing the data used in this study. We are grateful to Michael Bowlus, Denis Duffy, Katherine Edwards, Sequoia Block, and Kathryn Olson of Minnesota Department of Education for supports and advice, to Kelly Frankenfield of Saint Cloud School District for helpful suggestions, and to Gary Cook of WIDA for explaining how to interpret ACCESS scores. Masayuki Onda thanks Hideo Owan for generously allowing him to work flexibly to complete this project. All remaining errors are our own.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18H03632 and 20K13516, by the Faculty Development and Research Committee Grant of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, and by Waseda University’s Support Program for Publication in High Impact Journals.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Providing appropriate learning environments for students who are not native English speakers is an important element of ensuring equal access to education for students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. This study evaluates the process for reclassifying English learner (EL) students as English proficient. Exploiting the threshold-based reclassification policy in Minnesota, we use a regression discontinuity design to recover counterfactuals— how much would EL students who were not reclassified due to the reclassification policy have improved in academic achievement had they been reclassified? We find that reclassification had no discernible effect on math and reading scores for 3rd-grade EL students, while reclassification increased the math scores of 6th-grade EL students. Our subgroup analysis finds that the positive effects of reclassification mostly depend on the large estimates in the first-year cohort of EL students. Taken altogether, these results imply that reclassification was unlikely to harm the 3rd- and 6th-grade EL students.
AB - Providing appropriate learning environments for students who are not native English speakers is an important element of ensuring equal access to education for students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. This study evaluates the process for reclassifying English learner (EL) students as English proficient. Exploiting the threshold-based reclassification policy in Minnesota, we use a regression discontinuity design to recover counterfactuals— how much would EL students who were not reclassified due to the reclassification policy have improved in academic achievement had they been reclassified? We find that reclassification had no discernible effect on math and reading scores for 3rd-grade EL students, while reclassification increased the math scores of 6th-grade EL students. Our subgroup analysis finds that the positive effects of reclassification mostly depend on the large estimates in the first-year cohort of EL students. Taken altogether, these results imply that reclassification was unlikely to harm the 3rd- and 6th-grade EL students.
KW - English learners
KW - Nonrandom selection
KW - Regression discontinuity designs
KW - Resource allocation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102043
DO - 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102043
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85093696026
SN - 0272-7757
VL - 79
JO - Economics of Education Review
JF - Economics of Education Review
M1 - 102043
ER -