Foreign Language Education, Academic Performance, and Socioeconomic Status: A Study of California Schools

Abstract: This study examines various features of foreign language program offerings at 220 public high schools in California. Foreign language program features were examined in relation to the school's Academic Performance Index (API), the school's socioeconomic status (percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and percentage of English language learners (ELLs). High API ranking high schools reported a larger percentage of students enrolled in foreign language classes, more foreign language teachers, fewer emergency-credentialed teachers, more feeder middle school foreign language programs, more study abroad and foreign exchange programs, and more technology use in foreign language teaching. However, these relationships were not found in low socioeconomic schools and schools with larger numbers of ELLs. Foreign language educators can use the findings to offer recommendations to school administrators, policymakers, and professional organizations about ways to improve the teaching of foreign languages in secondary schools regardless of students' socioeconomic status or the growing population of ELLs. Key words: California, credentialed teachers, English language learners, foreign language education, high school, socioeconomic status Languages: Relevant to all languages Introduction California, like many other states, has instituted a performance accountability program to measure academic performance of students. The goal of this program is to identify schools that lag behind in demonstrating comparable improvement in academic achievement by economically disadvantaged students, students in the process of learning English as a second or additional language, and students who differ by race and ethnicity (California Department of Education, 1999a). In order to accomplish its mission, the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) of 1999 requires that the California Department of Education (1999b) annually calculate the Academic Performance Index (API) for all public schools and publish school rankings based on these indices. The PSAA also requires the establishment of a minimum 5% annual API growth target for each school as well as an overall statewide API performance target for all schools. A school that meets either API growth or performance targets is eligible for rewards recognition and monetary incentives under the Governor's Performance Award Program. If a school fails to meet its annual growth target, it may be sanctioned and identified for an immediate intervention program that imposes a very specific set of improvement activities. The API's purpose is to measure the academic performance and growth of schools; thus, the API is the centerpiece of the statewide accountability system in California public education. The API is a numeric index (or scale) that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000, and a school's score or placement on the API is an indicator of its performance level. The statewide API performance target for all schools is 800. The performance indicators included in the 2002-03 API, for example, are the results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, which includes the Stanford Achievement Test (Stanford 9) and California Standards Tests (CST) in English-language arts, mathematics, and history-social science; and the California High School Exit Examination. The results of the CST in science and the California Alternate Performance Assessment were added to the API in the 2003-04 reporting cycle. Each annual API reporting cycle includes two reports: a Base report, which appears after the first of the calendar year, and a Growth report, which appears in the fall. These reports are based on APIs calculated in exactly the same fashion with the same indicators, but using test results from two different years. In this study, the 2003 Growth API scores were used for analyses. Foreign Language Education The California Foreign Language Project, a statewide professional development project for foreign language educators that is funded by the state legislature, conducted this study to determine whether schools with different API rankings differ in their foreign language programs. …