Educators and policymakers have long thought that children who entered school still learning English lagged behind their fellow students—an idea backed by years of data.
But according to new research from the University of Chicago, many English learners eventually match, or even exceed, the academic achievements of their peers.
Released this week by the UChicago Consortium on School Research, the groundbreaking longitudinal study found that nearly 80 percent of students who entered kindergarten in Chicago Public Schools as English learners—as defined by their performance on a state test—gained proficiency by eighth grade.
Photo by Eileen Ryan
