NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS that U.S. schools are making progress in meeting the academic needs of multilingual students but that the educational system is obscuring those results by focusing too narrowly on the test scores of English-language learners instead of including those who have successfully passed through such programs.

The study analyzed U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data and explored whether and how much multilingual students' achievement on math and reading improved between 2003 and 2015. Researchers found multilingual students' scores improved "two to three times more than monolingual students' scores in both subjects in Grades 4 and 8," and there was little evidence the trends were connected to variables like race, region or socioeconomic status.

The study defined multilingual students – of which there are around 20 percent, according to census data – as those who "in their home talk to each other in a language other than English, most or all of the time." It was different from other research in that it broadened its focus from just students currently learning English to also include those who were former English-learners and those multilingual students who came to the schools already proficient in the language.

Researchers argued that comparing years of test scores of students in the process of learning English would reveal little change, since their limited language skills would always affect their academic performance. On the other hand, once such students pass through programs and become proficient, they would no longer be classified as English learners. So if schools improved their ability to teach students English, those results would not show up in test scores because the successful students would be reclassified and their scores would not be included.

For example, the study points to estimates that say that between a quarter and half of students who enter kindergarten as English-learners have been reclassified by the time they take the NAEP exam in the fourth grade and 70-85 percent have moved on by eighth grade.

The study counters recent headlines that trumpeted persistent achievement gaps for English-language learners, and it makes the case that including the test scores of students currently learning English as well as those who became proficient at it offers a better measure of the success with which schools are serving multilingual students.

"English learners' NAEP scores were flat because they're the group that aren't yet proficient in English," says lead researcher Michael Kieffer, an associate professor at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. "To assess progress over time, the whole group of multilingual students should be looked at, because if you look at all of them, you can count proficient students."

Looking at it that way, NAEP achievement differences in reading narrowed over the period the study examined by 24 percent among fourth-grade students and 27 percent in eighth-grade students, while the gap in math scores dropped 37 percent for fourth-graders and 39 percent for eighth-graders – all measures that suggest schools are closing the performance gap between multilingual and monolingual students.

The study showed that monolingual students' scores increased significantly over time, but multilingual students' scores increased even more across grades and subjects – nearly twice as much in fourth grade in both reading and math, over three times as much in eighth grade reading and more than twice as much in eighth grade math.

Although the data indicate multilingual students are achieving more than they were in the past, there is no clear indication as to why this is the case, Kieffer says. One reason could be that the time period analyzed corresponds with the era of the No Child Left Behind Act, with associated changes in accountability and instruction likely affecting multilingual students, particularly increased attention to the needs and performance of English learners.

"The No Child Left Behind Act raised awareness of multilingual students," Kieffer says. "That's one thing that happened during that period, but other things happened that I'd put under the category of raising awareness."

Not only has there been greater emphasis on schooling for multilingual students recently, but Magaly Lavadenz, professor of English learner research, policy and practice at Loyola Marymount University, says dual-language programs have helped English learners and multilingual students outperform their monolingual counterparts by building on their language capacities.

"Research shows building on native language proficiency helps English learners outperform English speakers if they participate in those programs," says Lavadenz, who did not work on the study.

Kieffer says researchers usually only focus on current English learners when looking at this group but that this study represents multilingual students more realistically – and he recommends it become the way the group's progress is measured from here on.

"One future step is looking at 'ever-English learners,' which consist of former and current English learners," Kieffer says. "This is a logical next step for policy to use for accountability and tracking policy over time with states."