Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence

From 1996-2001, CREDE researchers Wayne Thomas and Virginia Collier conducted the "National Study of School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement." Built on 14 years of related research, this study documents the academic achievement of ELLs over the long-term (4–12 years) and across content areas. It offers a much-needed overview of programmatic successes in the education of ELLs for policy makers.

The study collected data from five school districts throughout the United States. They included an inner-city urban district in the northwest, a large urban district in south central U.S., a mid-sized urban district in the southeast, and two rural districts in the northeast. Researchers collected records of individual ELL students for a minimum of 4 years of their education and analyzed achievement trends of those students. Records examined included those of students who remained in longer-term language support programs (i.e., 5–6 years), those in shorter-term programs (i.e., 1–3 years), and those who had exited or never entered such programs (i.e., receiving some years of their instruction in mainstream English medium classrooms).

These data have been analyzed in order to understand how effective varying programs, implemented with theoretical integrity and established logistical support, can be in preparing students for success throughout the duration of their academic experiences.