A Quantitative Correlational Study Examining the Relationship between English Language Students’ Lexia PowerUp Usage and English Language Proficiency Scores on ACCESS

Abstract

English language (EL) students’ English language proficiency (ELP) scores directly impact a school district’s College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) score, measuring whether Georgia meets accountability requirements. English language proficiency for English language learners (ELLs) is measured by the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. The problem was high schools’ progress toward English language proficiency scores, which were determined by EL students’ scores on the ACCESS for ELLs assessment, dropped from 94.78 to 70.12 points between 2018 and 2023, respectively, in a small, rural school district in northwest Georgia. This study intended to fill a gap in the literature regarding how EL students’ usage correlates to ELP scores. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine if there is a relationship between Lexia PowerUp usage and English language proficiency scores on the ACCESS for ELLs assessment among high school EL students in a small, rural school district in northwest Georgia. The second language acquisition (SLA) and blended learning theories were the guiding theoretical framework. The research questions addressed the relationship between Lexia PowerUp usage, ELP scores, and performance band placement. For this quantitative correlational study, a purposive sampling method was used to select archival data for a sample size of 36 EL students from a population of 212. Spearman’s rho was used to determine the degree of relationship between two variables. It was determined there was no statistically significant relationship between the variables for both research questions. The outcome of this study may help the school district determine future implementation of educational technology to improve EL students’ ELP scores, potentially leading to positive social change.