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Stanford and SFUSD present longitudinal study: bilingual and dual-immersion pathways catch up to English-only instruction by middle school
Summary
A three-year Stanford-SFUSD study presented to the board found that while English-only (English plus) pathways show faster early English gains, bilingual maintenance and dual-immersion students catch up by grades 5—7 and in some measures surpass peers later; presenters urged targeted investments to close persistent gaps for Latino English learners.
District staff and Stanford researchers presented findings from a three-year, IES-funded evaluation of English learner instructional pathways in San Francisco Unified.
Ritu Khanna (Assistant Superintendent for Research, Planning and Accountability) introduced the partnership. Professor Sean Reardon (Stanford) and researchers Alana Umansky and Rachel Valentino described the study—s methods and major results: using cleaned pathway data going back to 2001 and following cohorts of students who entered kindergarten, researchers compared outcomes in three pathways (English plus/immersion, bilingual maintenance, and dual immersion). The analysis tracked English proficiency (CELDT), reclassification, and CST outcomes in English language arts and mathematics.
The team reported a consistent pattern: students who began in English-only classrooms tend to make faster early progress on English proficiency tests, but the rate of new students reaching proficiency slows over time in that pathway. Bilingual maintenance students typically catch up to English-only students by fifth grade on English proficiency measures; dual-immersion students tend to catch up by the sixth or seventh grade. By seventh grade, the gap in the percent of students classified proficient narrows considerably and, in several models, bilingual/dual students slightly outperform the English-only cohorts.
On academic tests (CST ELA and math), dual-immersion students often begin well below peers but demonstrate faster growth rates and by middle grades close or exceed state average trajectories in ELA; math trajectories vary but many EL students in SFUSD score at or above the state average regardless of pathway.
Presenters emphasized subgroup differences: Chinese-speaking ELs overall reached proficiency and reclassification earlier and with higher rates than Latino ELs, indicating persistent achievement gaps. The research team and district staff recommended using the findings to target professional development, instructional materials in target languages, and staffing to ensure pathway coherence and to close within-district inequities. The board discussed implications for LCFF allocations and asked for more granular analyses (comparisons vs. English-only peers, school-to-school differences, target-language proficiency and biliteracy outcomes).
The researchers noted that two papers are under review for publication and that the partnership has produced data tools the district can use to track EL pathways going forward. Superintendent Carranza and district staff said they intended to continue partnership work and to use the study to inform investments, staffing and professional development for EL pathways.
