Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Despite the rapid growth of English language learners in American public schools, much debate persists among policymakers and educators regarding the best instructional approaches to meet their educational and language needs. To shed more light on this key national issue, this paper examines the effects of two-way language immersion program participation on reading skills and English proficiency, using a randomized control trial.

By examining the impacts of program participation, this paper will contribute to the limited availability of research using an experimental design to test the impact of the use of a student’s native language on academic outcomes. Cummins’ Common Underlying Proficiency informs the hypotheses regarding the impact of program participation on educational outcomes.

In the fall of 2016, Waltham Public Schools implemented its first two-way immersion program. The excessive demand for the two-way immersion program in Waltham creates an ideal condition to conduct a randomized control trial to test the impacts of participation. A public lottery was conducted to randomly assign students to the program. 40 kindergarten students comprise the treatment group, with 63 students in the control group. 

I will conduct intent-to-treat analyses to estimate program effects. I aim to (1) assess program participation effects on reading skills assessed in English for English language learners and language majority students, (2) estimate the differential effects of program participation and home language on English reading skills (Spanish vs. English); and (3) estimate program participation effects on English language proficiency for minority language students.

I will draw data from three sources: (1) reading skills in English and Spanish scores from the Development of Reading Assessments, and (2) Evaluacion del Desarrollo de la Lectura, and (3) English proficiency levels from ACCESS for ELLS. Reading skills be assessed at two time points: in the fall of 2016 and in the spring of 2017. English proficiency will be assessed at three time points: around April 2016, mid-year in kindergarten approximately in January 2017, and again approximately in May 2017.

This paper will present preliminary findings on initial assessment data. The aim of this paper is to place these preliminary findings in the context of the current knowledge about the effects of two-way language immersion program participation on reading skills assessed in Spanish and English, and English proficiency.

The results from this analysis will contribute to the small body of research on the effects of bilingual and English immersion programs on the educational outcomes of minority language students, and majority language students. The evaluation will focus on one type of bilingual program, contributing to our understanding of the impacts of one specific bilingual education approach. A major contribution of the study is the longitudinal component since it is difficult to assess impacts of the use of a student’s native language on outcomes over a short period of time. Finally, measurement of reading outcomes will be conducted in both languages, Spanish and English, for the experimental group, perhaps providing an opportunity to capture more accurately students’ abilities.