Teacher Attrition and Opportunity Gaps for Emergent Bilingual Students

• In Event: New Questions and Outcomes for Research on Teacher Turnover

Abstract

Estimates project that by 2025, one in four students in U.S. public schools will be identified as an English learner (EL). Although federal law requires schools to provide ELs with language support services, these emergent bilingual students nonetheless face persistent disparities in educational opportunity and academic outcomes. Emergent bilinguals disproportionately attend high-poverty schools with challenging resource constraints, including difficulty retaining high-quality teachers. Studies document how teachers disproportionately leave schools serving racially and linguistically diverse communities, expanding the teacher experience gap between schools. Studies have largely ignored, however, whether those patterns also expand opportunity gaps within schools. This paper therefore explores the extent to which teacher attrition may widen opportunity gaps within schools, as well as between them, for emergent bilinguals.

Author

• Glenn A. Poole, WIDA