School districts serving newcomer English Learners (ELs) generally offer short-term intensive English programs designed to teach foundational language skills and guide students’ integration into the U.S. school system. Despite the growing popularity of newcomer programs, however, there is limited rigorous evidence of their efficacy. In this paper, we present evidence on the causal effect of an intensive English program on the academic achievement of newcomer EL students. Access to the program is determined by a test score cutoff which we leverage to employ a regression discontinuity design. On average, students who are eligible for the program in elementary grades experience a boost in their academic achievement for up to 3 years following initial eligibility. Conversely, newcomer EL students who are marginally eligible for intensive English language instruction in middle school grades see a decline in achievement that tends to exacerbate over time.

中文翻译：

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新移民计划对英语学习者学业成绩的影响


为新移民英语学习者 (EL) 提供服务的学区通常会提供短期强化英语课程，旨在教授基础语言技能并指导学生融入美国学校系统。然而，尽管新移民计划越来越受欢迎，但其有效性的严格证据仍然有限。在本文中，我们提供了强化英语课程对新移民 EL 学生学业成绩的因果影响的证据。该计划的访问权限由测试分数截止值决定，我们利用该分数值来采用回归不连续性设计。平均而言，符合小学年级资格的学生在获得初始资格后的长达 3 年内，其学业成绩都会得到提升。相反，初中英语强化课程的新入学 EL 学生的成绩会下降，而且随着时间的推移，这种下降趋势还会加剧。