Reclassification of students designated as English learners (ELs) is a critical process governed by state policies that mandate using multiple criteria to ensure fairness and accuracy. However, while these policies aim to create equitable pathways for reclassification, discrepancies in local implementation can present barriers for students, according to a report released in March by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE).
Keeping students classified as ELs for too long can lead to unequal academic outcomes, but locally variable criteria — particularly the “basic skills” requirement — as well as administrative hurdles can lead to missed or delayed reclassifications, researchers determined. Additionally, local variability can result in unequal reclassification opportunities across districts, especially for students enrolled in separate elementary and high school districts. Fragmented data systems and the delayed release of state test results also compound these challenges.
Findings outlined in the report were gleaned from work conducted over nearly a decade by the Stanford-Sequoia K-12 Research Collaborative — a long-standing research-practice partnership between the Stanford Graduate School of Education and nine local school districts that engage in research inquiries that guide local decision-making, working with various Stanford faculty and research centers.
To address the obstacles described above, Stanford-Sequoia Collaborative districts worked together over nine years to streamline their practices by:
- Aligning and broadening pathways to meet basic skills. Districts calibrated thresholds between elementary and high school districts, and provided multiple pathways and test windows for students to demonstrate basic skills. School districts have flexibility to choose how to measure if a student demonstrates the ability to participate effectively in a curriculum designed for pupils of the same age whose native language is English. This may include utilizing results from the state Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, other district benchmarks or local assessments and/or course grades. Thresholds for proficiency are locally determined and often vary across districts.
- Shifting mindsets and building support. Districts used research to build visible support for EL students in their strategic visions and accountability plans.
- Reducing procedural frictions. Districts shifted from sequential to concurrent processing of reclassification criteria, enabling more end-of-year reclassifications.
“A simplified and standardized reclassification system — grounded in the timely release of ELPAC [English Language Proficiency Assessments for California] data, improved support for monitoring reclassified students, automated data alerts, and more nuanced state accountability systems — has the potential to eliminate administrative inefficiencies and improve reclassification outcomes for students classified as ELs statewide,” according to the report. “Although Stanford-Sequoia Collaborative districts acknowledge that there is still room for improvement, these collective changes have helped streamline local processes, allowing more students designated as ELs to reclassify.”
Indeed, researchers found that reclassification rates increased across all nine districts after districts implemented such strategies. The reclassification rate among those who passed the ELPAC increased from 36 percent in 2017–18 to 95 percent in 2024–25 and gaps in reclassification rates by socioeconomic status narrowed significantly, as did disparities in reclassification rates for students labeled as long-term English learners (LTELs) relative to other multilingual learners.
To scale these successes across California, the report recommends three state-level reforms:
- Eliminate the basic skills criterion. Removing this requirement would keep arbitrary and unnecessarily high barriers from trapping English-proficient students in the EL category.
- Reform accountability systems. Report reclassification rates and disaggregated multilingual learner categories on the California School Dashboard to ensure that districts are not penalized for reclassifying high-performing EL students.
- Reduce administrative burdens. Standardize the timing of the release of English language proficiency scores, implement alerts for students who are ready to reclassify, and provide clear guidance on reclassification processes.
