Appropriate for Whom? Rethinking Equity in New Jersey's Bilingual Education Code

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Language, Policy, and Possibility: Reimagining Educational Futures for Multilingual Learners

Abstract

This paper examines how districts across New Jersey interpret and apply the state’s bilingual education requirements, and whether the waiver system has led to the systematic exclusion of multilingual learners (MLs) from appropriate educational opportunities. Even when the state’s bilingual education code requires a full-time bilingual education program, districts can still apply for a waiver. We developed a waiver-based appropriateness metric to evaluate whether schools were providing required bilingual education services. This is an interdisciplinary paper that takes up policy, legal frameworks, and critical equity perspectives with mixed methods to understand the appropriateness of services of bilingual students in the State of New Jersey. We use QuantCrit and Critical Quantitative and Computational Methods (CritQCM) to interpret our findings.

Authors

• Claudia M. Castillo-Lavergne, Rutgers University - Newark

• Swati Dontamsetti, Rutgers University

• Vandeen Campbell, Rutgers University - Newark

• Isabella Rojas, Rutgers University - Newark