The Ties Between Student Mobility and Dual Language Learners in Arizona

Recently, there’s been quite a bit of controversy surrounding Arizona’s treatment of children who do not speak proficient English when they enter the school system. As Early Ed Watch noted in August, a court case and series of reports on Arizona’s dual language learners* have generated debate that is exacerbated by tension surrounding illegal immigration.

Recently, another valuable question about dual language learners (and their families) has popped up in Arizona: How often do these students move, and could it be hurting their academic performance?

A study released in October by the Regional Education Laboratory West for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) digs into this issue of student mobility. The study, which looked at the 2004-05 through 2008-09 school years, found that over 25 percent of Arizona’s K-12 students moved (or took extended breaks from school) in a given year. Students classified as English language learners, students on free and reduced-priced lunch, and students in special education programs were all more likely to have moved than their counterparts.

Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, 56.8 percent of students classified as English language learners experienced a “mobility event,”  meaning they either transferred schools, took an extended absence at least 19 school days long, or entered a school district in Arizona (presumably from a school system in a different state or country). About 10.3 percent of ELL students and 13.3 percent of students on free- or reduced-priced lunch had three or more of these mobility events over that four-year time span. This figure is striking when you consider that only 3.3 percent of students not on free or reduced-priced lunch fall in this category.

Mobility among all students in Arizona is high—the study found 52.4 percent of non-ELL students had at least one mobility event over the same 4-year span. This number is lower than for ELL students and students on free or reduced priced lunch, but is still high enough to raise some questions about how often families move and what kind of impact this mobility has on students. A 2008 report from researchers at the University of Michigan demonstrated that children who change schools in the early grades perform worse than their peers in reading and math, for example.

The figures on mobility in Arizona are relatively consistent across the grades (though, interestingly, kindergarteners were the least likely to have a mobility event, and first graders were the most likely).  The report recognizes that, as we noted above, “correlational research has shown that student mobility is associated with lower student achievement.” Another factor, which Early Ed Watch has discussed in the past is chronic absenteeism, which happens when children are absent a significant number of school days, which has been shown to harm a child’s ability to progress in school.

What is still to be unpacked is whether ELL students who move a lot would have progressed in their English skills and been reclassified out of the ELL program if they hadn’t changed or missed school. Nor does the study tell us much about the students who don’t speak English as a primary language, but have been reclassified out of English language learner programs and mainstreamed into regular schools. (One of the chief critiques of Arizona’s ELL policy is that it allows students to test out of ELL programs before they are ready to succeed in regular classrooms.)

To us at Early Ed Watch, however, this study makes a key point: The road blocks that children face are deeply interrelated. And when policymakers talk about there being no “silver bullet” to closing the achievement gap, they are making a statement that runs deeper and wider than we often recognize.

It’s also important not to point fingers at Arizona for having “bad” policies, or under-serving its ELL students. Though the quality of education for dual language learners in the state has come under scrutiny, many of these same patterns could (and probably do) exist in other states. It’s also worth noting that, according to the report, the Arizona Department of Education initially approached WestEd about conducting the study in the first place. Being at  the center of the immigration debate, and having a large (and expanding) population of dual language learner students may be a catalyst for the state developing comprehensive policies before many other states—and hopefully the struggles taking place in Arizona will lead to just that. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Arizona, and other states as well, as these policies begin taking shape.

* At Early Ed Watch, we chose the term dual language learners, or DLLs, to refer to students who speak a primary language other than English. We use this term to recognize that these students may still be learning and developing strong language skills in their native language, in addition to learning how to speak, read and write in English.