ERIC Number: ED605237
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Feb
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-
EISSN: N/A
Ninth Grade Newcomers in the Fort Worth Independent School District: A Focus on Academic Trajectories and Outcomes. Descriptive Report
Chu, Haiwen; Fong, Anthony B.
Grantee Submission
This report is part of a long-term collaboration of the Quality Teaching for English Learners initiative at WestEd with the Fort Worth Independent School District. The focus of this report is on a historical cohort of ninth graders who were enrolled at the International Newcomer Academy in the 2009-2010 school year. This report follows this cohort longitudinally over four years, describing its trajectories and outcomes. Key outcomes include English language proficiency growth, reclassification as English proficient, and the summative outcome of high school graduation. Similar to previous research, the majority of the focal ELL [English language learner] cohort is Spanish speaking and eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch. The students also tend to be very mobile: almost one third of the students left the district after the first year, and almost two-thirds of the cohort left the district within three years. In terms of academic outcomes, the students in our cohort usually improved on the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) over time. For instance, among students with four years of TELPAS scores, the percentage of students scoring Advanced or higher increased from 22% in the first year to 71% in the fourth year. However, when looking at reclassification rates, only 9% of the students were reclassified within FWISD. With respect to graduation outcomes, 46.5 percent of the cohort of students graduated from high school. [This report was prepared as part of Exploring Longitudinal Outcomes and Trajectories of English Language Learners (ELOTE), a Researcher-Practitioner Partnership funded by the Institute of Education Sciences.]
Descriptors: English Language Learners, Spanish Speaking, Low Income Students, Student Mobility, Language Proficiency, Student Characteristics, Immigrants, Second Language Learning, Gender Differences, Ethnicity, Racial Differences, Language Usage, Enrollment, Listening Skills, Writing Skills, Reading Skills, Language Skills, Special Needs Students, Grade 9, High School Students, Asian American Students, High School Graduates
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Numerical/Quantitative Data
Education Level: Grade 9; High Schools; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: WestEd
Identifiers - Location: Texas (Fort Worth)
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305H140032