English Language Proficiency and Track Placement: Variable Effects on Academic Achievement

learn English, and 2) they must acquire age-, and grade-level appropriate subject matter knowledge. If they are immigrants, they will most likely also need to adjust to an entirely new culture and learn the cultural and behavioral norms of a new society. However, schools have focused so extensively on the first task of learning English that academic preparation and the transition into a new culture often fall by the wayside. Bilingual education programs legislated both in California and the nation during the 1970s and 1980s attempted to take students academic preparation into account. Primary language instruction was held forth as a way to prevent students from falling behind academically while learning English. But even bilingual programs used primary language instruction to help students transition into English as quickly as possible (Gándara, 2002; US Dept of Education, 1968). Currently, Proposition 227, Californias English-Only initiative passed in 1998, calls for ELs to be placed in a year of English immersion upon entry to the school system1, focusing again on English rather than content area academics