The National Research Council today will release a long-awaited study of the accuracy of the information the federal government uses to identify English-language learners for the purposes of providing federal support for programs for these students.
Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides money to states and districts to support programs for English-language learners based on the number of students identified by the each state education agency as well as those identified in the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The latter is considered to be the more accurate, but both reporting methods have problems, and the research council has been at work for several years developing a set of criteria to determine what data would be the most timely, accurate, cost-effective, stable, transparent, and appropriate for the different groups of ELLs throughout the country.
Check back at the Inside School Research blog later today for an in-depth look at the report when it is released.