Performance of Economically Disadvantaged Students and English Language Learners in End of Grade Tests in Reading: The Need for More Resources and Teaching Quality

Abstract: –  Education is a vehicle for social change. It has been linked to all types of development.  According to Trinh (2023), education and training “are not only prerequisites for economic development, but they also contribute to sociopolitical stability and…. to raising the human development index”. The study set out to investigate (a) What is the difference in performance for students in two subgroups – Economically Disadvantaged and English Language Learners in Reading in the middle grade level and for students who are not Economically Disadvantaged and non-English Language Learners for each of the years of the study- 2022-2024? (b). What is the difference in performance for students who are Economically Disadvantaged in Reading in the middle grade level when compared to the overall percentage average for all students for each of the three years and for all the middle grade levels? (c). What is the percentage difference in performance for English Language Learners compared to All students for each of th3e grade levels and the years? It was found that for the three years of the study, economically disadvantaged students consistently performed lower than non-Economically disadvantaged students. Also, English Language learners performed lower than non-English Language learners. Overall, English language learners performed the lowest for all the subgroups in the study. Two strategies related to resources and funding and teacher quality were discussed as means of improving student achievement for the two subgroups.

Keywords: Achievement gap, Economically Disadvantaged students, End of Grade Tests, English Language learners, Reading.