Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners

by National Research Council, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Board on Testing and Assessment, Committee on National Statistics, Panel to Review Alternative Data Sources for the Limited-English Proficiency Allocation Formula Unde

Overview

As the United States continues to be a nation of immigrants and their children, the nation's school systems face increased enrollments of students whose primary language is not English. With the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the allocation of federal funds for programs to assist these students to be proficient in English became formula-based: 80 percent on the basis of the population of children with limited English proficiency1 and 20 percent on the basis of the population of recently immigrated children and youth.

Title III of NCLB directs the U.S. Department of Education to allocate funds on the basis of the more accurate of two allowable data sources: the number of students reported to the federal government by each state education agency or data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The department determined that the ACS estimates are more accurate, and since 2005, those data have been basis for the federal distribution of Title III funds.

Subsequently, analyses of the two data sources have raised concerns about that decision, especially because the two allowable data sources would allocate quite different amounts to the states. In addition, while shortcomings were noted in the data provided by the states, the ACS estimates were shown to fluctuate between years, causing concern among the states about the unpredictability and unevenness of program funding.

In this context, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned the National Research Council to address the accuracy of the estimates from the two data sources and the factors that influence the estimates. The resulting book also considers means of increasing the accuracy of the data sources or alternative data sources that could be used for allocation purposes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780309186582
Publisher:	National Academies Press
Publication date:	07/20/2011
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations xix

Summary 1

1 Introduction 5

The Population and the New Landscape 5

Allocating Funds for Title III Programs 8

Review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office 13

This Study and This Report 15

2 American Community Survey Estimates 21

The American Community Survey 21

Assessment of the Data 29

ACS Estimates 36

Properties of the Estimates 37

3 Quality and Comparability of State Tests of English Language Proficiency 59

NCLB Requirements for English Language Proficiency Tests 60

State English Language Proficiency Tests 61

General Similarities and Differences Among the State Tests 67

4 State Procedures for Identifying and Classifying English Language Learners 77

Initial Classification of Students 80

Reclassification of ELL Students 86

Data on ELL Students Reported to the Federal Government 90

5 Comparison of American Community Survey Estimates and State Counts 103

Conceptual Differences in the Two Sources 103

Comparison of Shares of ELL Students 105

Comparison of Rates of ELL Students 111

Understanding the Differences 116

6 Comparability of Estimates of Immigrant School-Age Children 133

ACS Data and Estimates 134

State Procedures for Determining Immigrant Status 145

Comparison of ACS and State Estimates 150

7 Decision Criteria and Recommendations 161

Desired Characteristics of Allocation Formulas 161

Comparing the Allowable Data Sources 164

References and Bibliography 171

Appendixes

A Review of English Language Proficiency Tests 181

B Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff 209