“False Positives, Reentry Programs, and Long Term English Learners”: Undoing Dichotomous Frames in U.S. Language Education Policy

Flores, Nelson; Lewis, Marc D.

doi:10.1080/10665684.2022.2047408

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The participants conceptualized EL instructional services as academically limiting, socially isolating, and that placement in these services was a product of racism. These same themes are prevalent across the research literature in the education of students identified as ELs (e.g., Cooper, 2020; Flores & Lewis, 2022; Umansky et al, 2021). These findings contribute to a broader spectrum of research that calls attention to how EL practices and policies that are seemingly benign can cause harm (e.g., Cabral, 2022; Johnson, 2019; Kangas & Cook, 2020; Valdés, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Raciolinguistic ideologies “conflate certain racialized bodies with linguistic deficiency unrelated to any objective linguistic practices” (Flores & Rosa, 2015, p. 150). The power of raciolinguistic ideologies in the lives of linguistically and racially minoritized individuals has been documented in research and practice (Ascenzi-Moreno & Seltzer,2021; Flores & Lewis, 2022; Smith, 2022). To avoid this erasure, I include intersectional theoretical principles (Harris & Leonardo, 2018; Robert & Yu, 2018) in my theorization of anti-adultism.…”

Section: Creating a Space For Youth Voicementioning

confidence: 99%

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What Does ESL Mean to Her? An Analysis of Women of Color Recounting Their Attempts to Exit EL Instructional Services

Brooks

2023

AERA Open

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A portion of EL-identified youth want to exit the EL instructional services to which they are legally entitled. Moreover, institutionalized adultism within EL policy does not provide youths a role in decision-making about these services. As a result, little is known about how individuals who attempt unsanctioned exits conceptualize EL instructional services. This study uses an intersectional anti-adultism conceptual lens to analyze the retrospective interviews of 35 women of color who attempted to exit EL instructional services during their K–12 schooling. The findings highlight three dominant themes in participants’ conceptualizations of EL instructional services: they were academically limiting, socially isolating, and that placement in these services was a product of racism. Moreover, this detailed analysis evidenced how schooling transitions impacted participants’ conceptualization of EL instructional services. These findings have implications for how research, policy, and practice can center EL-identified youths’ decision-making and disrupt their experiences of marginalization.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Creating a Space For Youth Voicementioning

confidence: 99%

What Does ESL Mean to Her? An Analysis of Women of Color Recounting Their Attempts to Exit EL Instructional Services

Brooks

2023

AERA Open

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“…While questions have been raised by scholars as to the validity of the framing of language and approach to assessment that undergird the EL accountability system and the ways that it may perpetuate deficit perspectives of students officially classified as ELs and reinforces a remedial orientation to meeting their educational needs (Flores & Lewis, 2022;Macswan, 2000), very little political controversy has emerged in response to these national efforts in the ways that they did with national partnerships related to attempts to encourage the adoption of the CCSS. Our argument is that one major way that these consortia have been able to avoid political controversy and remain stable is that they lack power and instead rely on authority through providing technical assistance.…”

Section: The Increasing Specificity Of El Accountability Policies Acr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of course, it may be that this framing is itself limited in promoting equity for students officially classified as ELs and other bi/multilingual students. After all, the intensive focus on assessing academic language promoted by the federal government and supported by national consortia and state educational leaders may have avoided political controversy precisely because it reinforces longstanding deficit perspectives of racialized bilingual communities (Flores, 2020;Flores & Lewis, 2022). Yet, the fact that this aspect of EL policy has been able to avoid political controversy in ways that other aspects of EL policy, such as program models, have not suggests that there is something different about EL accountability policies that are worth paying attention to for national educational actors hoping to shape state and local educational policy and practice.…”

Section: The Promise and Perils Of Authoritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Authority over power in English learner accountability policies: Maintaining a national role within a context of local control

Flores

García

Edgerton

2023

EPAA

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Pushback against the perceived federal overreach into educational reform has led to renewed calls for a return to local control of schools. In contrast to this general trend, there has continued to be a strong national role for English learner (EL) accountability policies related to EL identification, monitoring and reclassification processes. In this article, we seek to bring attention to the historical development and contemporary instantiation of these EL accountability policies. The general accountability system has typically focused on coercive strategies connected to rewards and sanctions. In contrast, the EL accountability system has typically focused on harnessing the expertise of research to provide increasingly specific guidelines for how to meet federal mandates related to supporting students officially classified as ELs. This approach may help explain how national actors have been able to maintain an active role in shaping these policies without being perceived as a threat to local control. We conclude with implications for national educational actors interested in using authority to shape other areas of educational policy as well as possible limitations of this approach.

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“…The school district had a major role in this reclassification procedure, which heavily relied on a single cutoff score to make life‐changing decisions about ELs. Clearly, Upper Creek High School had an orientation that is rooted in the dichotomous framing of ELs (Flores & Lewis, 2022) and used BBA ELA for dividing their students as ELs and non‐ELs. As Robinson‐Cimpian and Thompson (2016) found, this over‐reliance on test scores kept LTELs in ESL services.…”

Section: Closing Remarks and Looking Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardized Tests and Within‐Group Segregation: The Not‐So‐Optimal ESL Classroom for Long‐Term English Learners

Uysal

2022

TESOL Quarterly

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Reclassification is a critical threshold when English Learners (ELs) exit specialized language services and access all‐English mainstream classrooms. Despite the mandates of the Every Student Succeeds Act, reclassification rates and time remain a pressing problem. A product of this malfunctioning system has been long‐term ELs (LTELs). This article focuses on the social consequences of language assessment and attends to the stories of three LTELs at a rural high school in the southeastern United States. It examines the impact of ability‐grouping through standardized tests on the social fabric of an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Data come from semi‐structured personal interviews and observations in ESL and content‐area classes. The thematic narrative analysis points to a reclassification system that functions primarily based on test scores. State‐mandated tests silence LTELs by classifying them in the same category with newcomer ELs. This system targets the standardization of their identities by disregarding the diversity within the ELs in terms of instructional needs and social, linguistic, academic, and cultural resources. These tests pose an insuperable social conflict and tension between the LTELs and newcomer ELs. To this end, I claim that state‐mandated tests are hegemonic devices that might cause hierarchies in ESL classrooms and within‐group segregation of ELs. The social consequences of testing need to be investigated in‐depth to revamp the educational landscape for LTELs.

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“False Positives, Reentry Programs, and Long Term English Learners”: Undoing Dichotomous Frames in U.S. Language Education Policy

Cited by 14 publications

References 35 publications

What Does ESL Mean to Her? An Analysis of Women of Color Recounting Their Attempts to Exit EL Instructional Services

What Does ESL Mean to Her? An Analysis of Women of Color Recounting Their Attempts to Exit EL Instructional Services

Authority over power in English learner accountability policies: Maintaining a national role within a context of local control

Standardized Tests and Within‐Group Segregation: The Not‐So‐Optimal ESL Classroom for Long‐Term English Learners

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