Bridging Out of the "ESL Ghetto": Promoting Institutional Desegregation for English Learner Teachers and Programs

• In Event: Collaborating for Educational Equity and Excellence for Immigrant and Refugee Newcomers: Research Trajectories Across Stakeholders

Abstract

One of the contributors to educational inequity for English Learners (ELs) is institutional segregation between EL and mainstream teachers. While it is generally agreed upon that collaboration between EL and mainstream teachers is crucial for meeting the needs of ELs (e.g., Olsen, 2014), these two groups of professionals tend to be siloed into separate physical and programmatic spaces. This persistent segregation in turn hinders curricular and pedagogical innovation, reinscribing what Valdés (2001) calls the “ESL ghetto” (see also Faltis & Arias, 2013).

This presentation reports on an action research project designed to increase communication and collaboration between EL and mainstream teachers at a mid-sized high school in New England. The presenter first situates the study within scholarly literature, highlighting the persistent barriers that prevent these sorts of collaborations. One of these barriers is the typical structure of U.S. high schools--one which uses tracking and social promotion to avoid the need for differentiated instruction and inclusive pedagogy (e.g., Callahan, 2005). This structure allows EL and mainstream teachers to divide responsibilities, with neither group taking on the important work of advocacy and support for advanced, long-term, and/or former ELs (e.g., Daniel et al, 2016; Kanno & Kangas, 2014; Olsen, 2014).

The presenter then draws on one-on-one interviews with students who graduated from Laketown High School (pseudonym) to show how these dynamics limited opportunities for learning and growth among EL students. She presents a theory of change drawn from these findings, in which the role of EL teachers shifts from “remediation” to “mediation” (Author and co-author, forthcoming). She shares how she has worked with Laketown’s EL teachers and administrators to enact this vision, through strategic data collection, community-building, and advocacy work. She concludes by articulating some of her own limitations and professional “blind spots,” as well as suggestions for other researchers looking to undertake similar collaborations.

Author

• Shawna Shapiro, Middlebury College