Decade of research reshapes multilingual learner policy Sadie Harley Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor A lot of high school students load up on Advanced Placement courses to strengthen their college applications. But for many California students classified as English learners, access to even the basic college-preparatory courses required for admission to the state's public universities can remain out of reach. For these students, the challenge is not simply learning English—in fact, most of the high school students labeled as English learners are U.S.-born, have spent their entire school careers in U.S.

schools and are fluent English speakers—it is navigating a complex standardized testing and reclassification system that determines when they are proficient enough to move fully into mainstream academic pathways. That challenge became a central focus for researchers at the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities when they joined forces with nine local school districts, California Education Partners and colleagues at the Stanford Graduate School of Education to establish the Stanford-Sequoia K-12 Research Collaborative in 2017.

It is also the focus of legislative proposals now under consideration in California's state capital, including Assembly Bill 2555. Why it matters In California, almost one in five public school students (17%) is classified as an English learner (EL), making reclassification policies significant for many students' educational trajectories. Gardner Center research, along with prior literature, highlights that multilingual learners who are still labeled as English learners when they enter high school are less likely to complete high school or graduate college-ready than peers who reclassified before starting high school.

California students must reach multiple academic benchmarks and clear multiple administrative hurdles before they can be reclassified from English learner status to fluent and proficient, otherwise known as Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP). Under the current statewide criteria for reclassification, English learners must pass the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC); demonstrate readiness for grade-level curriculum on a district-identified assessment of basic skills; secure a recommendation of readiness from a teacher; and have the school consult with the student's parents or guardians. Each of these criteria must be met within a year of passing the ELPAC, or a student must take and pass it again—sometimes facing a more difficult version of the test.

"It's like the old board game Chutes and Ladders. A student could be moving along in the process toward reclassification, only to slide backward because of procedural barriers that might have nothing to do with their academic potential or English proficiency," said Amy Gerstein, Gardner Center executive director. Early collaboration provides direction This was the state of affairs when the work of the Sequoia Collaborative got underway.

Initiated by Stanford GSE Dean Dan Schwartz, the overarching goal of this effort has been to tap Stanford's research capacity to understand and tackle challenges facing students in local school systems.