While it’s well known that bilingualism offers profound cognitive and socioeconomic benefits, Texas risks missing the opportunity to fully harness this potential.
The Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s Houston Education Research Consortium has extensively studied the advantages of supporting emergent bilingual students, particularly when such support starts early.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) estimates that 5.5 million students were enrolled in public schools for the 2023-24 academic year, with about 1.2 million classified as emergent bilinguals. Over 320,000 of these emergent bilingual students were enrolled in Houston public school districts, representing 29% of the student population. The majority of emergent bilingual students are U.S. born and begin their educational journey in Texas schools in early elementary school.
According to analysis by the Kinder Institute, the number of emergent bilingual students in Houston public schools grew by 55% between 2011-12 and 2023-24.
This increase is not explained by an increase in enrollment of emergent bilingual students. Instead, emergent bilingual students are remaining emergent bilingual for longer periods of time and are not being reclassified as English proficient, a trend that is likely the result of a combination of factors, including changes in assessment practices, a shortage of certified bilingual teachers and funding cuts to bilingual programs.
Reclassification: A critical milestone
Beginning school as emergent bilingual does not place students at risk for academic difficulties. At the same time, however, reclassification as English proficient is a critical milestone.
Reclassification occurs when a student no longer needs linguistic support to participate in English-only instruction, as determined by state assessments and teacher recommendations. Students who reclassify in elementary school tend to outperform their peers, including students who were never emergent bilingual. However, emergent bilingual students who do not reclassify before middle school or high school are at greater risk of academic difficulties and often do not get access to important educational opportunities such as advanced coursework.
The percentage of emergent bilingual students entering Houston-area elementary schools has remained relatively steady in recent years, with 37% of first-grade students identified as emergent bilinguals in 2011-12 and 35% in 2023-24. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who do not reclassify before middle school has dramatically increased.
Among emergent bilingual students who began first grade in 2011-12, 48% had not been reclassified before they entered middle school in 2016-17. Of those who were first graders in 2018-19, 83% had not reclassified before they entered middle school in 2023-24.
The state assessment for English proficiency itself has changed, creating additional obstacles. The Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) evaluates students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing. Emergent bilingual students must show proficiency in all four domains to be considered for reclassification.
In 2018, the state redesigned the TELPAS, making it an online assessment rather than a teacher-administered assessment. This change particularly affected the speaking portion of the assessment — instead of speaking to a teacher, the students speak to a computer.
Several of our district partners have pointed to this particular component as being the most problematic and the biggest obstacle for students to pass the assessment and reclassify as English proficient — including students who they feel were ready to be reclassified.
The overhaul of the TELPAS had a major impact: More than 50% of students passed the speaking section in 2017, they year before the redesign, but that dropped to just 7.6% in 2018, according to TEA data.
Funding cuts and legislative misses
Texas school districts have faced chronic funding shortages, especially in bilingual education, forcing them to make difficult decisions when it comes to allocating resources. Significant cuts for bilingual education began after the Great Recession, and the Texas Legislature has not increased per-pupil spending since 2019. Kinder Institute research found that almost every school district in Harris County requires additional funds to meet the needs of its students.
In 2021, the Texas Legislature passed a bill requiring the TEA to create a plan to improve and expand bilingual education. That plan, published in 2023, led to several legislative proposals in 2023, including:
● Addressing financial and administrative barriers to becoming a certified bilingual teacher.
● Expanding dual-language programs that support a student’s home language, particularly in middle and high schools.
● Educating families and educators about the value of bilingualism.
● Monitoring bilingual students’ development through a statewide tracking program.
● Increasing the number of multilingual graduates, potentially through a state seal of bilingualism and biliteracy.
However, the TEA’s plan did not address concerns about the reclassification process or the challenges posed by the TELPAS. Although nearly 20 related bills were filed during the 2023 legislative session, many were left in committee or were not passed. These included proposals to waive fees for bilingual certification and to increase funding for bilingual education.
As the number of emergent bilingual students continues to rise, it is crucial for the Legislature to take meaningful action to address their specific needs.
Support for emergent bilinguals
Supporting emergent bilingual students requires a multifaceted approach. First, families and educators must understand that bilingualism is a strength. Decades of research highlight the cognitive benefits of learning multiple languages, not to mention the lifelong advantages of multilingualism.
Research from the Kinder Institute shows that early intervention helps. Emergent bilingual students in the Houston area who attended public pre-K scored higher on English proficiency tests in kindergarten and first grade than their peers who did not attend.
Beginning elementary school as an emergent bilingual student does not inherently put a child at risk for academic challenges. To create a supportive learning environment, however, it’s crucial to nurture a student’s home language and culture and to employ teaching strategies that promote language development.
