“No Seat at the Table”: Inverse Relations of Tight and Loose Coupling and the Sustainability of Bilingual Education in Rhode Island

• In Event: Transdisciplinary Perspectives for Critically Analyzing Bilingual Education Systems

Abstract

Objectives

In recent years, Rhode Island has experienced significant growth in its number of multilingual learners (MLLs), currently ranking 6th among U.S. states in percentage of MLLs of total student population (NCES, 2024). Yet, despite the state’s long history of bilingual education (Macris, 1976) and commitment to expanding dual language programs (RIDE, 2020), there are fewer MLLs enrolled in bilingual programs today than in 2005 (RIDE, 2025). This study sought to understand the factors and processes shaping this reality and to identify challenges and opportunities within the bilingual education system in RI.

Theoretical Framework

Drawing from organizational theory, we use “coupling” as an analytic tool to understand relationships among different facets of the state’s bilingual education system (Diamond, 2012; Peurach et al., 2020). Organizations are considered “loosely coupled” when they have distributed leadership, lack standardized operating procedures, have weakly monitored sub-units, and rely on informal networks. Organizations are “tightly coupled” when they have hierarchical leadership structures, involve interdependent or integrated sub-units, follow standardized operating procedures, have closely monitored sub-units, have clear sense of purpose, and rely on top-down direction. Applying this lens, we explored “tight” and “loose” coupling across the RI bilingual education system and considered how these processes impact its ability to serve MLLs.

Methods

The primary data source was semi-structured interviews conducted with school-, district-, and state-level leaders, supplemented by review of relevant policy documents and historical records. Data analysis involved multiple rounds of qualitative coding, resulting in the generation of 117 codes (e.g., monolingual mindset, regime change) across 10 categories. Informed by Peurach et al.’s (2020) coupling framework, we then grouped codes along four main points of coupling (who, what, why, how) and analyzed agents of coupling, mechanisms of coupling, and aims/rationale for coupling for each.

Results

Findings show that the coupling processes are inversely structured (i.e., tight where they should be loose and vice versa) in ways that threaten the sustainability of bilingual education in RI. For example, the mission and vision of bilingual education (“why”) is loosely coupled, dependent upon individual leaders whose programs operate in silos to implement their vision at the local level. On the other hand, curriculum and assessment (“what”) is tightly coupled, involving English-centric curriculum mandates and assessment requirements that do not account for the unique needs of bilingual programs and their students. Based on these findings, we call for inverting these relations–i.e., more centralized vision and sustained investment (tight coupling) and more localized control over hiring, curriculum, and assessment (loose coupling)--for the RI bilingual education system to thrive.

Significance

By unveiling the myriad loose-and-tightly coupled processes impacting bilingual programs at the district- and state-level, our research reveals the complexity of these systems, demonstrating how too much or too little top-down control can be detrimental to bilingual programs. Additionally, our study makes a methodological contribution through using coupling as an analytic lens, providing a heuristic for systems-level analysis to support the development of more equitable bilingual programs.

Authors

• Laura Hamman-Ortiz, University of Rhode Island

• James Cahan, University of Rhode Island

• Jennifer A. Stoudt, Rhode Island Kids Count

• Rabia Hos, Southern Connecticut State University