Emergent Bilingual Students Using Lexia English Scored Higher than Their Peers on California’s English Language Proficiency Assessment

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A 2020 report from the U.S. Department of Education stated that the number of Emergent Bilinguals – also known as English language learners – in U.S. public schools has increased by more than a million since 2000. A recent study on the Lexia® English Language Development™ (Lexia English) program found that emergent bilingual students who used the program scored an average of 15 points higher than nonusers on the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC) test.

The study focused on 2,034 emergent bilingual K-5 students across 21 schools in a mid-sized northern California district. During the 2020-21 school year, the district used Lexia English as part of a hybrid or remote instruction, primarily in English Learner (EL) or English as a Second Language (ESL) instructional periods. Across all student groups, Lexia English users scored higher than non-Lexia English users. Compared to non-Lexia English users, Lexia English users scored higher regardless of their gender, race or ethnicity, eligibility for free-or-reduced price lunch, or language spoken at home.

All emergent bilingual students using Lexia English benefited from its culturally relevant pedagogy as well as its support of English language development through academic conversations. By focusing on the assets that each student brings to the classroom and having already mastered one language, they are able to build new language skills in a timely manner. In addition to their overall score being 15 points higher, on average, than peers who did not use the program, Lexia English users scored an average of 18 points higher on the ELPAC’s oral domain than nonusers. These results are consistent with Lexia English’s emphasis on speaking and supporting students’ English language development through academic conversations.

Lexia English is an adaptive blended learning program designed to help Emergent Bilingual students acquire higher language proficiency levels of English. With embedded alignment with multiple language proficiency standards and industry-leading Speech Recognition Technology, the program focuses on three key areas — speaking, listening, and grammar. Lexia English blends language learning with subject knowledge to support academic achievement. Culturally and ethnically diverse characters engage and encourage students throughout their learning journeys which contributes to a greater educational equity experience in the classroom. Because the characters are themselves Emergent Bilinguals, the students can see themselves reflected in the materials they study.

“The fact that, after controlling for demographic characteristics and school differences, researchers found that Lexia English helped users across all grades and demographic subgroups, is extremely exciting,” said Lexia Chief Learning Officer, Dr. Liz Brooke. “Student performance on the ELPAC is particularly important as it is one criterion educators use to reclassify students from Emergent Bilingual to Fluent English Proficient. These findings indicate that Lexia English can be of enormous help to teachers as they support diverse groups of emergent bilingual students.”

The award-winning Lexia English is part of the robust Lexia suite of literacy product offerings for differentiated instruction, personalized learning, assessment, and professional learning. For more information on Lexia English go to https://www.lexialearning.com/lexia-english

About Lexia Learning
Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, is the structured literacy expert. For over 35 years, the company has focused solely on literacy, and today, provides a full spectrum of solutions for both students and teachers. With robust offerings for differentiated instruction, personalized learning, assessment, and professional learning, Lexia helps more learners read, write, and speak with confidence. For more information, visit www.lexialearning.com.

About Cambium Learning Group
Cambium Learning® Group is the education essentials company, providing award-winning education technology and services for K-12 markets. With an intentionally curated portfolio of respected global brands, Cambium serves as a leader in the education space, helping millions of educators and students feel more universally valued every day. In everything it does, the company focuses on the elements that are most essential to the success of education, delivering simpler, more certain solutions that make a meaningful difference right now. To learn more, visit www.cambiumlearning.com or follow Cambium on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Medium. The Cambium family of companies includes: Cambium Assessment, Lexia® Learning, Learning A-Z®, Voyager Sopris Learning®, ExploreLearning®, Time4Learning®, and Kurzweil Education®.