English learners in the Santa Barbara school district have shown improvements this year. Reclassified students actually outperformed English-only students on the English portion of the state’s standardized tests. Of the 933 English learners eligible for reclassification as English proficient this year, 518 (or 56 percent) made the leap. This was a significant bump, likely a result of Assistant Superintendent Emilio Handall earlier in the year suggesting that principals were not reclassifying students so as not to lose state and federal funding.
