A new Amplify study of K–3 Spanish-speaking multilingual learners (MLs) shows that more of these students were identified as at risk for not learning to read when their early literacy skills were measured only in English.
Read the research brief. Findings reveal that using only English-language assessments for early literacy can lead to a higher rate of misidentifying Spanish-speaking MLs as at-risk for reading difficulties, underscoring the importance of comprehensive dual-language assessments that help educators better understand their students’ early literacy skills.
For the study, Amplify analyzed data from an intact group of Spanish-speaking MLs in grades K–3 who have Spanish literacy data from mCLASS® Lectura assessments and English literacy data from mCLASS DIBELS® 8th Edition assessments at the beginning, middle, and end of the 2023–2024 school year.
Responding to changing demographics
Changing demographics in the United States public school population necessitate the availability of reliable and valid universal screening assessments for literacy in languages other than English. In 2020, for example, approximately 5 million public school students—10 percent of all students—identified as MLs. For the majority of these students (75 percent), Spanish is one of the top five languages spoken in their state. Unfortunately, an English-only approach to screening bilingual students may underestimate their knowledge and skills, given that limited English proficiency can adversely affect a student’s performance on English measures. Moreover, an English-only approach to assessment fails to capture the knowledge and skills MLs have in their home language that can be leveraged to support their English literacy development through processes of cross-linguistic transfer.
The importance of bilingual assessment
When MLs are assessed in English only, the skills students have from another language may go unrecognized. Educators may see these students as generally struggling readers simply because they are not able to demonstrate fully their literacy skills in English. However, these students likely have knowledge and skills in Spanish and may need support transferring those skills from Spanish to English. Assessing students in their home languages enables educators to identify areas of strength and areas that require further support, ensuring a more comprehensive assessment of their overall language and literacy abilities.
A dual-language approach to early literacy assessment has powerful implications, including:
- Providing more accurate information about whether students need intervention.
- Giving educators a more complete understanding of students’ literacy skills, including which skills they possess in each language.
- Helping educators support students’ language development needs with more precision.
“Although the availability of universal screening assessments for Spanish-speaking MLs has increased in recent years, it’s still not where it needs to be,” said Kajal Patel Below, vice president of biliteracy at Amplify. “Our hope is that this study will shed light on the extent to which the identification of reading intervention support varies for MLs when assessed in both their home language and in English.”
Supporting student literacy development in both languages
A dual-language approach to literacy assessment for Spanish-speaking multilingual learners provides educators with a more comprehensive understanding of students’ literacy development in both languages, highlighting student strengths and bringing to light opportunities for improvement. As the data included in this brief indicate, significantly greater percentages of Spanish-speaking MLs were identified as needing intervention when assessed only in English, providing further evidence that a monolingual approach to assessment fails to capture students’ true range of literacy skills.
Read the full report for more insights and recommendations.
More about the study
The goals for this study were to better understand the extent to which the identification of reading intervention support varies for Spanish-speaking MLs when they are assessed in Spanish and English. Amplify analyzed data from an intact group of Spanish-speaking MLs in grades K–3 who have Spanish literacy data from mCLASS Lectura assessments and English literacy data from mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition assessments at the beginning, middle, and end of the 2023–2024 school year.
During the 2023–2024 school year, more than 212,000 students in grades K–6 were assessed at least once with mCLASS Lectura. These students were enrolled in schools located across 30 states and the District of Columbia (representing four census regions and all nine census divisions) and one country outside of the United States. Of these, the data for this study were from students who had assessment scores from beginning, middle, and end-of-year in both Spanish and English. Our sample includes more than 21,000 Spanish-speaking MLs in grades K–3 who have data on both assessments at all three times of year.
