Our latest report, in partnership with the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University, Minding the Gap: How Do New LCAP Requirements Address Equity for English Learners?, assesses whether the latest iteration of Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP) are making progress in improving education for English learners.
What is an LCAP?
An LCAP is a document that articulates a three-year plan listing goals, actions, and services aimed at improving outcomes for students. These documents are looked at as engines for equity.
Californians Together and the Center for Equity for English Learners reviewed LCAPs and provided analysis of the accountability system’s capacity to meet the needs of multilingual learners. In the most recent installment of this series, we again analyzed plan effectiveness.
Twelve years into the Local Control Funding Formula, and five years after the adoption of the California English Learner Roadmap, we hoped to see ambitious goals, quality data, and well-articulated plans for serving diverse English learners, including long-term English learners.
Findings
Most district plans remain generic, not transformative.
Our report includes a rubric assessing six focus areas:
- Actions and services
- Program and course access
- Desired outcomes for English learners
- English language development
- Professional development
- Family engagement
Across these six areas, nearly half of the ratings were weak, and only 4% reached exemplary. Simply put, while districts have made progress in describing programs, they are rarely linking them to measurable outcomes for English learners. Districts have an opportunity to get the most of their programs with meaningful data to drive progress.
Engagement is improving—but not impact.
More districts are involving families, students, and educators in planning, but few are translating diverse input into differentiated goals or actions for English learners. Improving community engagement is encouraging, but districts should ensure that they can act on feedback to meet the unique needs of students.
Differentiated growth targets are the exception, not the rule.
English learners are not a monolith, and different student groups will have different needs. That’s why it is so disappointing to find that only half of districts set group-specific goals, and even fewer applied them consistently. Without accelerated growth targets, achievement gaps will persist for English learners.
Long-Term English Learners are still overlooked.
Long-Term English learners (LTEL) are now a statistical category in the California School Dashboard. Districts are charged with using data to improve outcomes for this student group, and ensure they have the support they need to reclassify. Although most districts mention LTELs, only one included a specific goal for these students. Districts must make the most of data describing LTEL outcomes to craft plans that specifically address their needs.
Recommendations
The report concludes with recommendations for how districts can ensure that future plans can address equity gaps.
- Strengthen accountability for English learner outcomes.
- State leaders should require disaggregation of data for English learners, long-term English learners, and students at risk of becoming long-term English learners. Districts must ensure that LCAPs identify clear, differentiated goals for each group.
- State leaders should require disaggregation of data for English learners, long-term English learners, and students at risk of becoming long-term English learners. Districts must ensure that LCAPs identify clear, differentiated goals for each group.
- Equip County Offices and the System of Support.
- The California Department of Education should update state guidance and county office of education review processes to ensure LCAP approvals explicitly assess whether districts are setting and monitoring group-specific outcomes.
- The California Department of Education should update state guidance and county office of education review processes to ensure LCAP approvals explicitly assess whether districts are setting and monitoring group-specific outcomes.
- Sustain English learner–focused professional learning.
- Leaders should expand and evaluate programs like the Educator Workforce Investment Grant, and align future cycles to LCAP planning and implementation.
- Strengthen the role of technical assistance agencies.
- State leaders should ensure the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and County Offices of Education align their work with the California English Learner Roadmap to directly support improvement that is focused on meeting the needs of English learners.
- Center exemplary plans and evidence-based practice.
- Leaders at every level should provide model LCAPs and technical resources that demonstrate how plans can function as equity tools—not compliance checklists.