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California's English-language learners making progress in school
By Kim Minugh - kminugh@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, April 24, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A3
The percentage of the state's English-language learners showing enough proficiency to potentially be reclassified as fluent increased about four percentage points this school year, according to test results released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.
For 2007-08, 36 percent of English learners showed "Early Advanced" or "Advanced" language skills on the California English Language Development Test, up from 32 percent the previous year.
The test scores are just one factor that determines whether a nonnative speaker is "reclassified" and put into mainstream classes, at which point a student stops taking the test annually. For the reclassification process to begin, a student's overall scores must show that he or she is Early Advanced or Advanced, and the scores must be Intermediate or above in specific tests for listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The other factors considered in the reclassification process are a student's results on the standards test for English-language arts, teacher evaluation and parent opinion. The number of English learners reclassified will be released this summer.
More than 1.3 million English-language learners statewide took the language development test this year. California has the highest population of nonnative speakers in the country, with Spanish being the most common language.
"Becoming fluent in English can open a world of new opportunities for every student. I am pleased to see that more English learners participating in the assessment are making good progress toward English-language fluency," state Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell said in a written statement.
In Sacramento County this year, the number of students testing Early Advanced or Advanced increased from 34 percent in 2006-07 to 36 percent. Almost 39,000 English-language learners took the test countywide.
For more information or to review test scores, visit the California Department of Education's language development test Web site at http://celdt.cde.ca.gov.
About the writer:
- Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038.
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