There has been and will continue to be a dramatic increase in the number of K–12 students who come to U.S. schools without proficiency in English. This dramatic increase, along with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, raises instructional and corresponding research questions (e.g., August & Hakuta, 1997). The educational system is responsible for ensuring that students who come to school without proficiency in English not only learn the English language but also achieve across the entire curriculum. Schools, districts, and states have implemented a broad array of instructional programs, such as immersion and transitional bilingual education, to support students with limited proficiency in English. Two of the terms used to designate these students are limited English proficient (LEP) and English language learner (ELL). Because of its common usage as well as its more positive connotation, ELL is used by the authors. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ■ Identify the types of ELL data that need to be collected and reported. (page 12) ■ Develop and implement procedures to collect ELL data. (page 13) ■ Make ELL data and reports easily accessible. (page 13) North Central Regional Educational Laboratory No. 21 December 2005 Research-Based Analysis of Education Policy POLICY ISSUES USING DATA TO UNDERSTAND THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS By Drew H. Gitomer, Ph.D., Jolynne Andal, Ph.D., and Derek Davison ISSUE OVERVIEW Because of educational accountability demands, districts and states are required to collect and report certain kinds of information about English language learner (ELL) students. In general, these summaries report on the numbers of ELL students and how well they are performing on statewide measures of achievement—information that fulfills external accountability pressures. This edition of Policy Issues has been developed to provide perspectives on how information that is already being collected can be analyzed and reported in ways that support the internal information needs of educational systems. Specifically, by using relatively straightforward approaches to analyzing their data, districts and states can better address and convey answers to the following: • What are the background characteristics of the ELL students in the school, district, or state? • Are background characteristics of ELL students related to how well they progress academically? • Are particular aspects of the educational program, including how instruction is organized and characteristics of teachers, related to student outcomes?