English-learning students in Stanislaus County could see more success if bill passes
A bill introduced in the California Assembly aims to reduce the requirements to be reclassified as proficient for English learners in the state’s public school system. The bill would impact almost 25,000 English-learner students in Stanislaus County, per the 2024-25 school year.
The current standards were set 50 years ago, and researchers at Stanford, the University of Oregon and the San Francisco-based nonprofit WestEd have found that some of the criteria are holding back students who have developed proficiency but remain classified as English learners.
The standards call for English-learning students to score a four (the highest score possible) on the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California , have a teacher concur that the student is English proficient, have parents or guardians consulted, and pass a legally undefined basic skills test.
The basic skills component can differ by district, and researchers have found that many students who scored a four on the ELPAC were held back for not meeting other requirements. Assemblymember Darshana Patel, D-San Diego, introduced Assembly Bill 2555, which would eliminate requirements other than scoring a four on the ELPAC. If passed, the bill would go into effect for the 2027-28 school year.
“Research and practitioners have been telling us for some time that this system is inconsistent, subjective, duplicative, overly complex, and misaligned with our current English learner policy,” Patel said in a statement to The Bee. “It’s time to reform this system to make it fair, consistent, transparent, and efficient.”
When the standards were set, she continued, the state was aiming to strike a balance between “reclassifying students too early, which can leave them without the language skills they need to succeed academically, and reclassifying them too late, which can restrict their opportunity to learn and segregate them from their peers.”
Modesto City Schools has approximately 7,500 English learners, which is about 25% of the student population. In the 2024-25 school year, the district reclassified 953 students from English learners to fluent English speakers, and 320 students earned the state seal of biliteracy.
During the same school year, Ceres Unified had 4,243 English learners, Turlock Unified had 3,566 English learners, Sylvan Union had 1,206 English learners and Patterson Joint Unified had 1,927 English learners.
“It’s my intent that this bill will allow students to reclassify at the right time, and by that I mean once they have demonstrated that they can succeed academically without specialized language support, and before they experience restricted opportunity to learn and segregation from their peers,” Patel said.
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 2:36 PM.
CORRECTION: The story has been updated to more accurately reflect the number of MCS English-learner students.
