Principal Leadership for Emergent Bilinguals: Additive Language Policies in Latinx Leadership

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Leadership for Emergent Bilinguals: National Perspectives From the State, District, Principal, and Teacher Levels

Abstract

Purpose
Responsive leadership from teachers and principals is critical to meet the needs of diverse student populations (Hunt, 2011; Palmer et al., 2014). For emergent bilinguals, how school leaders shape language policies directly impact the opportunities and quality of programming students receive. This research explores the role of the Latinx school leaders as change agents in bilingual education, asking these research questions:
1. In what ways do Latinx leaders perceive their contributions in leading a bilingual school community, in particular through the language policies they shape?
2. How has their vision of bilingual education shifted as they move into leadership roles?
3. How do these leaders connect their leadership to their emergent bilingual students’ learning?

Theoretical framework
Research on leadership in schools has recently been centered on the role of multiple actors across school contexts finding that principals and other school leaders (assistant principals and teachers) have great impact on negotiating and shaping the language policies that affect emergent bilinguals (Author, 2016; Hopkins, 2016; Palmer et al. 2014). Others have found that in addition to distributing decision-making across school actors, the conceptual framework that leaders hold is also critical. Palmer et al. (2014) argue that a social justice framework is necessary to ensure that leaders advocate for the needs for their emergent bilinguals. The role of the Latinx leader has been highlighted for the potential that these leaders have in connecting their backgrounds to their students (Murakami et al. 2016). Yet, the potential connections and unique perspective that Latinx leaders may bring to change processes that impact instruction for students in bilingual programs has not been sufficiently explored (Martínez et al., 2016). This research employs dual lenses of distributed leadership and social justice to analyze how Latinx leaders envision their leadership vis a vis language policy in bilingual education settings.

Methods
This qualitative case study focused on Latinx leaders’ perceptions of bilingual education policy and programming through interviews with four public school Latinx leaders in a city in the Northeast. To answer our research questions, interviews were conducted following a semi-structured interview protocol, conducted two times during the school year. In addition, principals were asked to write reflective memos. Once interviews were transcribed, data from both interviews and reflective memos were coded through open coding (Saldana & Omasta, 2017). From this reading of the data, themes were generated. Initial findings were sent to school leaders for comment, which were incorporated into the research.

Results
The following themes emerged: 1) Latinx leaders connected their bilingual identities to the leading of bilingual education communities; 2) Latinx leaders’ bilingual identities impacted the way in which they envisioned bilingual education in favor of holistic conceptualizations of student bilingualism; and 3) Latinx leaders voiced a multilayered vision of student learning which included bilingual competencies and sensibilities.

Scholarly Significance
The role of the Latinx leaders in supporting quality and equitable instruction for emergent bilinguals provides insight into the ways in which a broader community of school leaders can respond to the diverse needs of emergent bilinguals.

Authors

• Laura Ascenzi Moreno, Brooklyn College - CUNY

• Berky Lugo-Salcedo