Identifying Indicators to Support Educational Attainment for Different Groups of English Learners in High School

This study examines a broad array of potential indicators for early warning and college readiness indicator systems (e.g., indicators made from English proficiency tests, grades, attendance, discipline records, and standardized test scores) for different groups of English learners in high school. Using data from 2008 through 2021 from the Chicago Public Schools, the study follows cohorts of students from eighth grade through college graduation, running exploratory analyses through logistic regression analyses and confirmatory analyses with omitted cohorts and machine learning methods. The study identifies ways of modifying indicator systems to better serve particular groups of English learners and to focus practices so that students are more likely to graduate high school and earn college degrees.