Mathematics college readiness differences by the language status of Texas high school students

The extent to which Emergent Bilingual students and non-Emergent Bilingual students differed in their performance on the Texas state-mandated Algebra I End-of-Couse exam for the 2018-2019, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school years was examined. Specifically addressed was whether gaps were present between Emergent Bilingual students and non-Emergent Bilingual students in the pre-pandemic year and the first and second-post-pandemic years. In all three years, Emergent Bilingual students had statistically significantly lower Algebra I End-of-Course exam performance than non-Emergent Bilingual students. Both groups of students exhibited substantial learning loss between the pre-pandemic year and the two post-pandemic years in all three Grade Level standards. An interesting finding is that neither group, Emergent Bilingual students nor non-Emergent Bilingual students, has recovered from the learning lost during the pandemic.