How Are English Learners Faring Under Proposition 227

By: Robert Linquanti, Tom Parrish, Amy Merickel, María Perez, Miguel Socías, Angeline Spain

As a result of the passage of Proposition 227 in 1998, bilingual education is very much reduced in California, and English learners are typically mainstreamed after no more than one year in structured English immersion classes. At the same time, more English learners than ever before are being tested on the state’s standards tests, and their scores have improved at nearly the same rate as those of native English speakers. The question is how to attribute this improvement. This summary report describes the findings and implications of an evaluation by AIR and WestEd to measure the impact of Proposition 227.