A Study of the Impact of English Learner Students' Service Status on Third-Grade Reading Achievement

Given that reading at the third-grade level by the end of third grade is a predictor of future academic success, the purpose of this study was to determine if receiving or revoking English Language (EL) services had an impact on students’ ability to read at a third-grade level by the end of third grade. In this quantitative study, the scores of students (N= 258) from a suburban school district were examined to determine if EL service status, gender, ethnicity, and family income significantly impacted students’ reading fluency scores. Results of the study indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in reading achievement scores between students who accepted and who revoked EL services. The study also found that gender, ethnicity, and family income did not affect the relationship between EL service status and students’ ability to read at third-grade level by the end of third grade. Results of this study indicated that the use of pull-out EL instruction did not have a statistically significant impact on students’ ability to read at a third-grade level by the end of third grade. Although the results were not statistically significant, there was a pattern wherein proportionally more students who accepted EL services met the third-grade target (81 %) in comparison to those students who revoked EL services (76%), suggesting that EL services do have some impact on students’ ability to meet reading achievement goals. Results of this study indicated that pull-out EL instruction, which is one of the many types of instruction commonly used for EL instruction, should be examined more closely in order to determine its effectiveness in helping EL students reach reading achievement goals.