Reading, Mathematics, and Science Achievement of Language-Minority Students in Grade 8

This Issue Brief examines 8th-grade achievement in reading, mathematics, and science for language minority students (i.e., those from homes in which the primary language was one other than English) who began kindergarten in the 1998-99 school year. Data come from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), which tracked the educational experiences of a nationally representative sample of children who were in kindergarten in the 1998–99 school year. The analyses present a picture of students' achievement at the end of the study by focusing on students' scores on the standardized assessments that were administered in the spring of 2007, when most students were in grade 8. Students are categorized into four groups according to language background and English language proficiency. Additionally, assessment scores are reported by three background characteristics—students' race/ethnicity, poverty status, and mother's education—that have been found to be related to achievement.

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