Communities of Practice Emerging Within a Network of Schools Serving the New Mainstream

• In Event: 26.080 - Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: 26.080-19 - Evolution of Language in Education Policy in Four States/Regions

Abstract

Students growing up in families in which language(s) other than English are used can be considered “culturally and linguistically diverse." CLD students are growing in population rapidly in the United States – the “new mainstream" – and often are denied equitable educational opportunities due to underprepared teachers, administrators, and schools. Schools across public and private sectors that are striving to ameliorate this problem typically work in isolation. The purpose of this paper is to explore an exception to this by critically examining a network of schools ostensibly striving to effectively educate the new mainstream. It presents a preliminary analysis of the formation of networked improvement communities in a nascent, national network of schools implementing the two-way immersion model of bilingual education.

Authors

• Martin Scanlan, Boston College

• Minsong Kim, Boston College

• Mary Bridget Burns, Boston College

• Caroline Vuilleumier, Boston College