Superintendent of Schools SUBJECT: TITLE III STUDENT PERFORMANCE REPORT, PART I: ANALYSES OF LEP STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BROWARD

participate fully in the State of Florida’s Accountability System. These students are also part of Florida’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Accountability Plan for adequate yearly progress (U.S. Department of Education, March 26, 2003). The attached Research Brief aims to provide an understanding of BCPS LEP students ’ characteristics and their academic performance during the 2003-04 school year. This information is essential for establishing program initiatives that promote the improvement of their academic standing. The brief examines the academic achievement of BCPS students in 2003-04, according to their limited English proficient (LEP) status and length of enrollment time in BCPS. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of student academic achievement included in this brief confirm the results found in similar analyses completed for the previous two years (Ligas & Ciminera, 2002a, 2002b, 2003). Findings of cross-sectional analyses revealed that at the elementary and middle school levels, the differences on Norm-Referenced Test (SAT9/FCAT-NRT) mathematics and reading performance between LEP and non-LEP students were smaller for students with longer enrollment time in BCPS. A similar finding was registered for high school students in terms of NRT reading performance, but not in terms of NRT mathematic