Are We There Yet? Opportunities and Limitations of College- and Career-Readiness Policies in the Education of English Language Learners

• In Event: Preparing English Language Learners to be College- and Career-Ready: Perspectives and Experiences From the Field

Abstract

Local and federal education policies within the last decade have adopted discourses that emphasize the need to prepare K-12 students for college and career opportunities. These discourses are visible in academic content standards, assessments, and school interventions. However, the meaning of college and career readiness varies across audiences and contexts. What it takes to meet Career and College Readiness (CCR) standards has not been clearly defined for diverse groups of students, including English language learners (ELLs) (Brisk & Proctor, 2012). Investigating the perspectives of various stakeholders, including families, educators, local and state education agencies representatives, this paper deconstructs the ideology behind CCR for ELLs. It also explores how the CRR construct has mediated ELLs’ school experiences through the implementation of local and state policies.

Building on the work of critical reviews of the impact of policy on the education of ELLs (Menken, 2011), this paper seeks to explore how the ideology behind CCR has impacted the education of ELLs. The construct of CCR is explored through a critical analysis of ideology (Alfaro, 2017; Bartolomé, 1994, 2008; Freire & Macedo, 1987) of local, state, and federal policies. The study employs an ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1993; Hawkins, 2004) to examine the relationship of ELLs’ experiences in the context of school and the larger contexts of policy at state and national levels.

This study employs mixed methods of data collection and analysis from four states with different size populations of ELLs, that adopted CCR standards at the same time, and that use the same summative langauge assessment. Main data sources include semi-structured interviews with ELLs’ families, educators, local and state educational agency representatives and quantitative aggregated data of the academic achievement of ELLs in mathematics, reading, and language development. Qualitative data underwent iterative coding to identify salient themes (Saldaña, 2009) while quantitative data was analyzed using scale score metrics (Cook et al., 2008) to determine growth over time. Triangulated analysis of multiple data sources (Johnson et al., 2007) allowed for identifying patterns of academic achievement and language growth of ELLs within the era of CCR while problematizing its impact on ELL education.

Preliminary qualitative findings with educators reveal that despite the intention of local policies around CCR to enhance educational equity for ELLs, plans to help ensure increased access to the content of CCR standards were not systematic. Additional findings from this ongoing study will be ready by the end of 2017.
The critical examination of the impact of policy on students’ education is an important activity in informing future policy creation and implementation. This study adds to the literature on the intersection of policy and practice. This study is also inclusive of various stakeholders’ perspectives in order to examine ELLs’ schooling experiences within the larger policy context and provide a more robust picture of what means for ELLs to be college and career ready.

Authors

• Mariana Castro, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Alissa Anne Blair, University of Wisconsin - Madison