AERA Open - Targeted Intervention for Long-Term English Learners’ English Language Development and Reading Outcomes

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Study of College Access (pseudonym), a program designed for Long-Term English Learners in middle school, evaluating English proficiency, English language arts, and reading outcomes. Program participants generally show higher English proficiency than students in newcomer, other ELD, or no-designated ELD services. College Access is linked to higher ELA and reading scores relative to newcomer and other ELD groups, and to lower scores relative to no designated ELD. Findings hold with and without controls for prior-year test scores, while within-year reading growth is lower or similar across groups.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Targeted Intervention Program

College Access: Goals and Target Population

Outcomes: English Proficiency, ELA, and Reading

Evidence Approach and Comparisons

Policy Context: ESSA and EL Accountability

AERA Open January-December 2025, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–17 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584251362747 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2025. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Targeted Intervention for Long-Term English Learners’ English Language Development and Reading Outcomes Angela Johnson Oregon State University Diana Mercado-Garcia California Education Partners This study examines College Access (pseudonym), a program which aims to improve English proficiency, access to academic content, and college readiness for middle school students labeled as Long-Term English Learners. Program participants tended to score higher in English proficiency than students in Newcomer English language development (ELD), other ELD, or not receiving designated ELD services. College Access is also associated with higher English Language Arts (ELA) and reading scores relative to students in Newcomer ELD, similar ELA scores and higher reading scores relative to students in other ELD, and lower scores relative to no designated ELD service. These results hold with and without controls for prioryear test scores. Within-year reading growth rates for College Access were lower or similar compared to the other groups. Keywords: Educational Policy, Bilingual/Bicultural, Middle Schools, Correlational Analysis, Regression Analyses, LongTerm English Learners, English Learners, English Language Development, Literacy, Reading, Interventions, College Access The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 mandates the inclusion of English Learner (EL) students in K–12 state accountability systems with the goal of encouraging educators to pay closer attention to all students’academic progress and outcomes. Despite accountability policies that focus on the academic progress and outcomes ofELs, existing indicators signal that ELs continue to lag significantly behind on a variety of standardized measures of achievement compared to their peers who are fluent or native users of English. For example, ELs have considerably lower high school graduation and college-going rates (ED Data Express, 2019; Johnson, 2019) . Some of these disparities are heightened by the reclassification of students who have attained English proficiency, and, in some states and districts, met additional requirements (Saunders et al., 2013); however, ELs who are currently eligible for services continue to face systemic inequities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ELs experienced larger amounts of learning lags compared to non-ELs (Pier et al., 2021) . To better respond to ESSA federal and state policy goals, it is imperative to identify district- and school-level programs and practices that allow ELs to demonstrate English proficiency and academic achievement across core content areas compared to their English-only peers, especially among a subpopulation referred to as LongTerm English Learners (LTELs) . Students classified as LTELs are those who have not gained sufficient fluency in the English language as determined by the state to test out of EL status, even after being enrolled in the U.S. K–12 educational system for 5 to 7 years (Olsen, 2014) . Education agencies need to track students who have been classified as ELs for more than 5 years for federal accountability (ESSA, 2015) . However, extant research is silent on the effects of specific policies and programs targeting the education of LTELs. We know very little about potential district-and school-level levers that might improve their academic opportunities and outcomes. To our knowledge, only one targeted program exists at a national level that specifically addresses the needs of this diverse student group, so district- and school-level leaders are often unsure of how to evaluate the efficacy of these interventions. In this study, we examine the effects of such a targeted p

FAQs

What is the College Access program designed to do for Long-Term English Learners?

It aims to improve English proficiency, provide access to academic core content, and promote college readiness in middle school.

How does College Access participation relate to English proficiency compared with other groups?

Participants tend to score higher in English proficiency than students in newcomer ELD, other ELD, or those not receiving designated ELD services.

Does the study examine changes in reading growth, and how do they compare across groups?

Yes. Within-year reading growth rates for College Access were lower or similar compared with the other groups.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious