Elementary School Enrollment Size and the Academic Success for English Language Learners in High and Low English Learner Population Schools

In 2015, Congress reauthorized the latest version of the Elementary Secondary Education Act through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). In addition to the requirements for all students, this document includes provisions for English Language Learners (ELLs) and immigrant students. ESSA (2015) not only required annual assessments to ensure high level learning but also requires annual assessments for assessing ELL language acquisition. School divisions are required to monitor and report on how many ELLs made language acquisition growth and how many successfully met English language proficiency. The benefit of both ESSA (2015) and the resulting state policies is to ensure ELLs are afforded the appropriate supports to learn and achieve at the same high levels as their native English speaking peers. The purpose of this study was to identify a possible relationship between elementary school enrollment size and the academic success for ELLs in high ELL and low ELL population schools. This quantitative study examined existing data from a large suburban school district on Standards of Learning assessment achievement for ELLs over three academic years (2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019). Findings suggest total enrollment size and ELL population size impact academic achievement for ELLs. The researcher used two way ANOVA to determine if a difference exists in academic success for ELLs based on elementary school enrollment size and ELL population size. This study adds to research on conditions for high achievement for all students.