When Language Services Become Optional for English Learners With Disabilities

• In Event: 54.077 - Educating Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Learners: New Approaches to Achieving Educational Justice

Abstract

Inadequate educational services for English learners (ELs) with disabilities has become a common civil rights issue in the United States’ K-12 education system, as these learners often receive either special education or EL services, but not both. This comparative case study examines two elementary schools’ service provision practices for ELs with disabilities. The findings reveal that educators’ beliefs about the differential weight of special education and EL law resulted in a series of educational practices that barred ELs with disabilities from receiving the dual services they are entitled to under federal statutes. Using intersectionality as an analytic lens, I argue these beliefs in practice marginalize ELs with disabilities, as their educational services are misaligned to their learning needs.

Author

• Sara E.N. Kangas, Lehigh University