Equitable Access for Secondary English Learner Students

Abstract

Purpose EL education policy has long directed schools to address English learner (EL) students’ linguistic and academic development, and must do so without furthering inequity or segregation (Lau, 1974; Castañeda, 1981). The recent ESSA (2015) reauthorization expresses a renewed focus on evidence of equity, effectiveness, and opportunity to learn. We propose that high school course taking patterns provide evidence of program effectiveness and equity in access. Research Design Using data from the nationally representative Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), we employ multinomial regression models to predict students’ likelihood of completing two types of high school coursework (basic graduation, college preparatory) by their linguistic status. Findings Despite considerable linguistic, sociodemographic, and academic controls, marked disparities in high school course taking patterns remain, with EL students experiencing significantly less academic exposure. Implications for Policy and Practice Building on McKenzie and Scheurich’s (2004) notion of an equity trap and evidence of a long-standing EL opportunity gap, we suggest that school leaders might use our findings and their own course taking patterns to prompt discussions about the causes and consequences of local EL placement processes. Such discussions have the potential to raise awareness about how educators and school leaders approach educational equity and access, key elements central to the spirit of EL education policy.

Obscuring Equity in Dual Language Bilingual Education: A Longitudinal Study of Emergent Bilingual Achievement, Course Placements, and Grades

“…2 Crowding out is also indicative of exclusionary tracking as emergent bilinguals within DLBE are clustered and thereby furnished with a similar master schedule (Umansky, 2016). Although DLBE students are not as highly represented in remedial courses relative to their peers in ESL program models, their schedule is still mostly basic, yielding fewer opportunities for advanced placement in middle school and affecting future advanced-level high school courses (Callahan, 2005;Callahan & Shifrer, 2016).…”

Cultivating Capital for High School Newcomers: A Case Study of an Urban Newcomer Classroom

“…As such, newcomers were denied access to grade level curriculum and content, a violation of U.S. Department of Education's recommendations for servicing ELs' language and content needs (USDOE, 2017). The impact of inequitable access was studied by Callahan and Shifrer (2016), who found that ELs language status significantly impacted their access to academic rigor and exposure in educational programs. The lack of exposure led to sustained achievement gaps between ELs and their non-EL peers.…”

Using geospatial technology to teach language and content to English learners

“…The curriculum ultimately demonstrates how opportunities to learn can be cultivated for ELs as well as other language learners in a wide range of academic contexts. area curricula has high-stakes implications for ELs in secondary grades; subpar curricula deprive ELs of the opportunity to learn, thus poorly positioning them for postsecondary education (Kanno & Kangas, 2014;Callahan & Shifrer, 2016;Kanno, 2018).…”

“…With principles of L2 learning embedded naturally throughout tasks, geospatial learning holds great promise for ELs in secondary grades. The confluence of L2 and academic learning cannot be overvalued, because ELs frequently encounter either inadequate L2 support or watered-down content learning (Callahan & Shifrer, 2016;Umansky, 2016a;Valdés, 2001). The U.S.…”

“…First, ELs often have more restricted access to content area curricula than their English-proficient peers. Studies have shown that ELs are less likely to take critical content courses (Callahan & Shifrer, 2016), particularly science (Callahan, Wilkinson, & Muller, 2010;Umansky, 2016a). Second, even when ELs take content area courses, curricula are often watered down (Dabach, 2014;Valdés, 2001).…”