Examining the Intersection of Student Disability and Long-Term English Learner Status

• In Event: Reassessing the Long-Term English Learner: Theorizing and Conceptualizing Multilingual Learners in Research, Policy, and Practice

Abstract

Students identified as English learners (ELs) receive language support services until they meet state-established criteria for reclassification as fully English proficient, requiring high scores on standardized language proficiency assessments. Those ELs who retain the label for an extended period - for more than 5 years, according to the federal definition - are increasingly referred to as long-term ELs, or LTELs. The process of identifying and labeling a subgroup of students as LTELs can perpetuate inequities when this process leads educators, policymakers or researchers to focus narrowly on the perceived linguistic and academic deficits of these youth. At the same time, identifying LTEL students can draw much-needed attention to disparities in educational opportunities that systematically place this student subgroup at a disadvantage. We hope that it is this latter aim ESSA legislation strives for in requiring that state and local education agencies report the number of ELs still in language support services after five years. Furthermore, as federal guidance on ESSA implementation states, “we encourage [local education agencies] and States to use these data to determine whether any modifications to LIEPs are necessary and whether additional targeted services, which have been shown to be effective in increasing English language proficiency, may be needed to help long-term ELs.” (ESSA, 2015). The proper alignment between student needs and the services that schools can provide is a primary objective in all facets of education (Zetlin, et al. 2010). Schools are tasked with the identification, assessment, and subsequent placement of English Learners, and student disabilities further complicate the alignment of these processes (Sanatullova-Allison and Robison-Young, 2016). Yet, this is especially important for this vulnerable subgroup of students, as they are at higher risk to disengage from school and continue falling behind their less disadvantaged peers, who generally come from more affluent backgrounds, have a more robust access to out-of-school learning supports, and, perhaps most importantly, are tackling the challenging academic content standards in their native language. Unfortunately, few studies have examined the overlap between IEP and EL identification, so there is limited insight into the ways that disability status and English Learner classification might be conflated. We attempt to fill this gap by providing empirical evidence on the significant overlap between special needs identification and eventual long-term EL status using population-level English Learner assessment data. While our data does not allow for differentiating between types of student disability, we create two mutually exclusive subgroups: ever-IEP students, who “received” an IEP (Individual Educational Plan) designation at any time during their academic journey as ELs, and never-IEP students, those who were never identified as having special needs. Contrasting these subgroups’ long-term trajectories by starting grade-cohorts and years, we find consistent patterns of differential growth and student mobility for these two student subgroups. For example, six years after initial identification, only one out of 10 ELs in the never-IEP subgroup was still in status (EL), while the same was true for half of the ELs in the ever-IEP subgroup.

Authors

• Narek Sahakyan, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Glenn A. Poole, University of Wisconsin - Madison