The Role of National Teacher Organizations' Institutional Habitus in Perpetuating or Disrupting Educational Inequities for English Learners

• In Event: Immigrant Education and English Learners: Policy and Praxis

Abstract

Despite legislation ensuring equitable educational access for all students, English learners (ELs) continue to experience an opportunity gap in US schools. Equitable opportunity requires access to all educational services, including content-area coursework in English, mathematics, sciences, and social studies. Using critical document analysis this study examines the institutional habitus of four national content area teacher organizations via their public position statements to explore how each organization reproduces or disrupts the educational status quo for ELs. The study findings suggest wide variation in the positioning of ELs and highlights the need for national content area organizations to re-examine their power structures to fully include ELs.

Authors

• Johanna M. Tigert, University of Massachusetts - Lowell

• Michaela Colombo, University of Massachusetts - Lowell

• Christine Montecillo Leider, University of Massachusetts - Boston