Full Report - Center for Collaborative Education
Full Report - Center for Collaborative Education
Full Report - Center for Collaborative Education
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Table 20. MCAS ELA Pass Rates of LEP Students at Different Levels of English Proficiency. BPS, SY2009<br />
N of MEPA /<br />
MCAS Test-takers<br />
Elementary School<br />
MCAS ELA Pass Rate<br />
1<br />
All LEP MEPA & MCAS Test-takers 1,394 64.8%<br />
MEPA Level 1 20 0%<br />
MEPA Level 2 77 15.6%<br />
MEPA Level 3 311 31.2%<br />
MEPA Level 4 707 74.8%<br />
MEPA Level 5 279 95.3%<br />
English Proficient NA 84.0% 2<br />
Middle School 2<br />
All LEP MEPA & MCAS Test-takers 1,453 59.2%<br />
MEPA Level 1 58 1.7% 4<br />
MEPA Level 2 161 12.4%<br />
MEPA Level 3 483 41.4%<br />
MEPA Level 4 485 80.6%<br />
MEPA Level 5 266 93.2%<br />
English Proficient NA<br />
High School<br />
90.3%<br />
3<br />
All LEP MEPA & MCAS Test-takers 455 62.6%<br />
MEPA Level 1 12 25.0% 4<br />
MEPA Level 2 44 50.0%<br />
MEPA Level 3 201 61.2%<br />
MEPA Level 4 121 92.6%<br />
MEPA Level 5 77 98.7%<br />
English Proficient NA 95.2%<br />
Notes: 1 Includes grades 4 and 5 only. 2 Includes grades 6, 7 and 8. 3 Includes grade 10 test-takers only.<br />
4 Represents less than 10 students.<br />
IN DEPTH:<br />
A Look at the English Acquisition Trajectories of<br />
English Language Learners at Different Grade Levels<br />
The critical issue to assess is the proportion of LEP students who attain MEPA per<strong>for</strong>mance<br />
Level 5, that is, the level of English proficiency that most closely reflects the attainment of<br />
academic English (and there<strong>for</strong>e provides LEP students with the best possibility of passing<br />
MCAS ELA). Also important is to estimate how long it is taking Boston ELLs to attain that level<br />
of English proficiency. This is important to Boston ELLs in general but, most particularly, LEP<br />
students in high school because Massachusetts is a “high-stakes” testing state that requires<br />
that high school students pass MCAS ELA, Math and Science in order to graduate from high<br />
school.<br />
To examine these question, we assessed the language acquisition trajectories of three cohorts<br />
of students in Grades 3, 6, and 9 who scored at MEPA per<strong>for</strong>mance Level 1 in SY2006 and<br />
observed their MEPA test per<strong>for</strong>mances in SY2007, SY2008 and finally, in SY2009.This analysis<br />
of MEPA scores through time allowed us to see the difference in the trajectories of students at<br />
different grade levels as well as the progress that students can make in three years (the limit<br />
of the data available in this study 7 ).We then assessed the proportion of students at each level<br />
44 Improving <strong>Education</strong>al Outcomes of English Language Learners in Schools and Programs in Boston Public Schools