Sarah Novicoff

Getting ready for #AEFP2025 and starting to think about what panels to see? Want to learn more about the implementation details of science of reading reforms? Come see me present about the role of autonomy in literacy policy in session 7.03!
@aefpweb.bsky.social

A Longitudinal Portrait of California’s Kindergarten English Learners & Their Learning Outcomes - Sarah Novicoff, Sean F. Reardon, Rucker Johnson, 2025 California’s K–12 funding and instructional policies for English learners have changed significantly over the past two decades. This paper uses student-level lo...

Link here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Read my new article for some striking descriptive facts about California's English learners, including:
- The achievement gap for ELs in ELA shrunk by 20% 2006-15
- 3/4 of ELs who start in kinder. are proficient in English by grade-5
- 1/2 of ELs who start in kinder. are reclassified by grade-5

POSTDOC ALERT!

Working with Susanna Loeb and the SCALE (Systems Change for Advancing Learning and Equity) Initiative at Stanford has been one of the highlights of my grad school experience. Come join our amazing team in a postdoc role next year 😀 Learn more here: lnkd.in/ge_iS7XC

Thanks to my amazing co-authors Sean Reardon and Rucker Johnson for their mentorship in this work and to the phenomenal team at LPI for their support of this work. Read the full report here learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/4403/d...

4) We also follow one cohort’s journey from K all the way to grade-8. We observe only 48.5% of students who started as English Learners in kindergarten had been reclassified by the end of grade-5 (‼️)and 73.1% were reclassified by the end of grade-8.

3) In the most recent cohort who we can observe finish grade-5, though 72% of K-cohort EL students were designated as English proficient by the end of 5th grade and thus were eligible for reclassification based on that criterion, barely 50% were actually reclassified.

2) More recent cohorts reached English proficiency in earlier grades than previous cohorts had. But, we see almost no change in the overall share who were proficient in English by the end of grade-5. (Note these cohorts began school before some of these reforms were complete).

This figure has two panels. The top figure shows changes in grade-3 English Language Arts achievement for the kindergarten cohorts of 2006 to 2016. It shows that achievement gaps have narrowed between students classified as English Learners in kindergarten and students who were not classified as such. A similar pattern appears in the second panel about math achievement, although the gap is smaller and also shrinks less.

1) English Learner academic achievement by 3rd grade has improved over time, shrinking the achievement gaps between K-cohort ELs and other students in English language arts (ELA) and math. See figure below.

📚California’s K-12 policies towards English Learners have changed A LOT in the last two decades (e.g., a new funding system, new instructional materials requirements). So, how have English Learner outcomes changed over that same time period?

Event-study showing impact of 287(g) agreements on Hispanic & non-Hispanic enrollment

Sadly apt to re-up evidence on immigration enforcement's impact on students & schools

Dee, T. & Murphy, M. (2020). Vanished classmates: The effects of local immigration enforcement on student enrollment. American Educational Research Journal 57(2), 694-727.
Ungated files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1...

Thank you!

Thanks for making this list! I’d love to be included, if there’s room.

I’d like to be added to this list please!

To read more, see @matthewakraft.bsky.social's excellent thread on X or Kevin Mahnken's great coverage in @the74.bsky.social this morning. Or, read the article yourself here journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/... or open-access here edworkingpapers.com/ai22-653.

My big takeaway: Because time affects achievement, we ought to be really careful about interrupting it (e.g., with intercom announcements) or re-structuring it (e.g., four-day school weeks). We also ought to focus on helping kids capture it (e.g., reducing absenteeism).

When we consider inputs into schooling, we often think about teachers and funding (which undoubtedly matter a lot!) But, IMHO we don't spend enough time thinking about how long kids are in school & the consequences of that choice. Our research shows that time affects achievement.

⏰Did you know that students in TX, NE, AR, MS, and AL attend 1.4 more years of school over a K-12 education than students in HI, NV, ME, OR, and RI? ‼️ In a new AERJ article, @matthewakraft.bsky.social and I document differences in time and show how much they matter.

Want to learn more about this successful program and specifically hear what its outcomes looked like in Oakland? Join me and the Oakland Literacy Coalition for a virtual event on Jan. 17. RSVP for the link here: bit.ly/Jan17forum

The Achievement Effects of Scaling Early Literacy Reforms While policymakers have demonstrated considerable enthusiasm for “science of reading” initiatives, the evidence on the impact of related reforms when implemented at scale is limited. In this pre-r...

Read our working paper here to learn more! And thanks to great discussants at AEFP in March who helped us make this work better.

doi.org/10.26300/jnm...

When we compare targeted schools to similar CA elementary schools, targeted schools did 0.14 SD better on ELA tests after 2 years. This wasn’t just a mean difference either. It holds at every part of the distribution. Oh and it improved math scores too!

So what happened? While most schools nationwide suffered big dips in academic achievement post-pandemic with even bigger losses for already low-performing schools, these targeted schools didn’t.

In response to a lawsuit, CA rolled out a big intervention. Targeted schools got 4 notable things:
1. Trainings in science of reading
2. More funding (~$1000/student)
3. Support, oversight from experts
4. Flexibility to spend w/in pre-defined categories

Let’s go back to 2019, before the pandemic and before this program. Reading scores in CA presented a tough reality. Only 49 pct of 3rd graders met or exceeded the ELA standard. In the 76 lowest performing schools, it was 12 pct.

What happened when CA rolled out a science of reading intervention in its lowest performing schools during a pandemic? The program led to significant improvements in ELA scores!

Read below to learn more about this new research from me and @tomdee.bsky.social