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For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, California has released school-by-school data showing how many English learners became proficient in English, giving parents, educators and policymakers a new way to see how well schools are helping students become proficient in English.
The data shows that 13.8% of English learners statewide met the requirements to reclassify in 2024-25. That’s a similar percentage to prior to the pandemic, though the data cannot be compared over time because the state now more accurately counts students who were reclassified than in prior years.
Advocates, parents and school district and county office of education leaders celebrated the release, saying the data can help highlight the importance of getting students to proficiency, and shows which schools may need more support to help their students learn English.
“We’re very grateful and excited that the California Department of Education is releasing this data again,” said Manuel Buenrostro, policy director at Californians Together, a statewide coalition that advocates for English learners. “It’s important information for state leaders to know about, but also for schools, districts and counties to be able to look at the proportion of their English learners that are reclassified every year and compare that to similar districts.”
Students are first classified as English learners if they speak a language other than English at home and fail to show they can read, write and speak English on the English Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC).
In order to be reclassified as “fluent and English proficient,” students must achieve an overall score of 4 on the ELPAC, and demonstrate “basic skills” in academics comparable to those of their English-proficient peers. In addition, teachers and parents must agree that the students are proficient in English.
Among districts with at least 1,000 English learners, reclassification rates vary widely, from about 2% of English learners reclassified in Selma Unified in Fresno County to about 38% in Pleasanton Unified in Alameda County.
The wide range could be due to several different factors. School districts have different criteria for reclassification beyond the ELPAC score — some districts require an extra writing test, for example, while others require passing grades in all subjects. A bill currently in the Legislature would standardize the criteria by requiring only the ELPAC score for reclassification statewide.
In addition, some schools may have higher numbers of newly arrived immigrants. Research shows it takes between five and seven years for students to become fully proficient in English reading, writing and speaking.
“Just because the district might have higher reclassification rates doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re doing better or worse,” said Buenrostro.
Buenrostro said in addition to the reclassification rate, it’s also important to analyze how many years students have been enrolled in U.S. schools and whether students are improving their English over time.
Nicole Knight, executive director of English language learner and multilingual achievement at Oakland Unified School District, said her district’s reclassification rate of 8.5% reflects in part a large newcomer population. She said the district has focused strongly on increasing reclassification for Long-Term English Learners — students who have been enrolled in U.S. schools for six years or more but have not yet reached proficiency.
“We really push on our school communities to see those reclassification rates increase, and in particular, before those students get to high school,” Knight said. “We have seen really strong reclassification rates among LTELs in middle school, so we’re sending our high school students really well prepared.”
Having the reclassification rate data will help parents evaluate how their schools are doing and ask questions about what their schools could be doing better, said Araceli Simeon, executive director of the California Family Engagement Network and strategic advisor to Parent Organization Network.
“Especially if there are schools that obviously have a high EL population, and very few students are reclassifying, it gives them a lever to ask questions as to why this is happening,” Simeon said. “There may be a justifiable answer as to why it is low, but without that initial data point, it’s hard to ask.”
When the state stopped publishing reclassification rates, some parent groups took photos at the end of each school year of all the children who had been reclassified, both to celebrate the students and to compare schools, said Simeon.
“You would see how in some schools it was a handful of students, even though internally they knew that was a high EL population school, versus others that had dozens or hundreds reclassifying,” Simeon said.
School district leaders were also concerned when the state stopped publishing reclassification rates, said Roberta Gonzalez, the multilingual academic support project director for the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
“In terms of thinking about the plethora of data that we collect in California, it was sort of a head scratcher for a lot of people. You know, ‘Why aren’t we continuing to share this out?’ ” she said.
Gonzalez said the data will show county offices of education which districts need more support to help English learners and which districts demonstrate best practices for other schools to follow.
She said the results show that the work Los Angeles Unified and other districts have done in recent years is paying off.
Los Angeles Unified reclassified 22.3% of its English learners in 2024-25, the highest rate among districts with more than 10,000 English learners.
“If we consider a reclassification rate as sort of an overall indicator of the health and well-being of your EL program, then I think there’s cause for a bit of celebration in L.A. County,” Gonzalez said.
LAUSD leaders attributed the relatively high rate to a strong emphasis on data and coaching that began four years ago. Lydia Acosta Stephens, executive director of the district’s Multilingual Multicultural Education Department, said the district now sends coaches to schools not just to train teachers, but also to work directly with children in third grade through eighth grade, either by co-teaching or by providing small group instruction.
In addition, she said coaches collaborate closely with the district data team, and analyze the progress of each student toward achieving English proficiency as well as their academic skills before and after they are reclassified.
“They have a deeper understanding of the big picture of the journey and laser-like focus on what’s needed. And because they’re working directly with students, there’s so much buy-in from teachers as well, because they’re seeing the impact,” Acosta Stephens said.
Data journalist Daniel J. Willis contributed to this article.
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