ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1562699
A 13-year Longitudinal Study of Students who Enter Kindergarten as English Learners: Early vs. Late Reclassified Fluent English Learners
Provisionally accepted
- 1Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States
- 2The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, China
- 3University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
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Research on Long Term English Learners (LTEL), especially their negative academic outcomes is extensive, but Early Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (E-RFEP) students and their potential benefits are largely underexplored. This study analyzed longitudinal data for 13 years (kindergarten through 12th grade) from 1,152 students classified as English Learner (ELs) when they entered kindergarten in three elementary school (K-8) districts, tracking their academic outcomes through middle and high school. Findings show: 1) significant variation in reclassification timing; 2) demographic and socioeconomic factors were significant predictors of E-RFEP, including parent education, ethnicity, and gender; 3) E-RFEP contributed to higher academic achievement compared to LTEL peers and a comparison group of English only (EO) students. This work contributed to balancing the heavy focus on the languishing of LTELs and highlighted the flourishing of E-RFEP. Findings provided evidence-based implications for educators and policy makers on the current assessment and instructional practices for reclassification, as well as needed support for LTEL students to prosper academically.
Keywords: English learners, Reclassification, Early-RFEP, Academic Achievement, Language outcomes, parent education, gender
Received: 18 Jan 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Padilla, Chen, Swanson and Mercado-Garcia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xinjie Chen, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, China
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