Upholding Multilingual Learners' Civil Rights: State Leadership and the Contextual Factors Shaping Federal Policy Implementation

• In Event: Addressing Equity Through Federal Education Policy During the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations

Abstract

Purpose and Perspective

A confluence of demographic and policy changes over the last few decades place state
education agencies (SEAs) at the center of efforts to ensure that civil rights law is
upheld for multilingual learners (MLs). Situated in the context of a research-practice
partnership (RPP), this study examines SEA leaders’ approaches to implementing federal
policy for ML students, and explores the contextual factors that enable and constrain
their efforts to uphold MLs’ civil rights. Our work is grounded in critical policy scholarship to situate SEA leaders’ work in the complex contexts and systems in which ML policy is implemented (Diem et al., 2018; Weaver-Hightower, 2008). We apply this ecological perspective to a previously-developed framework used to explore how school leaders enact social justice in their implementation of ML policy (Mavrogordato & White, 2019).

Methods and Data Sources

Data were collected in the context of an RPP comprised of 12 state leaders from across all regions of the country and five university-based researchers. The RPP focused on the co-design of resources for SEAs, districts, and schools that outlined strategies for supporting ML students and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each state leader participated in two interviews, which included questions about their state-level work to uphold MLs’ civil rights. We also collected observational data during 17 RPP meetings between May 2020 and April 2021. Data were analyzed iteratively throughout the data collection process. To ensure the validity of our assertions, we engaged in extensive member checking (Merriam & Tisdell, 2017) with SEA leaders throughout analysis.

Findings

Findings revealed the duality of SEA leaders’ roles as they operated at both state and local levels to uphold MLs’ civil rights. Moving beyond strict compliance, the leaders in our study engaged in efforts to learn from and partner with districts and to foster shared responsibility for MLs within SEAs. Findings also showed how contextual factors enabled and constrained SEA leaders’ work. For example, ML population size, linguistic diversity, and teacher shortages intersected to constrain SEA leaders’ federal policy implementation. Further, whereas SEA organizational hierarchies often isolated leaders, collaborative structures and equity-oriented beliefs among high-level state leaders supported efforts to uphold MLs’ civil rights. Finally, findings revealed how the RPP offered a professional learning community that helped leaders enact transformative approaches.

Significance

Given that few studies have examined SEA leaders’ roles in the education system, our findings contribute new insights related to SEA leadership practice. Recognizing the complexity of SEA leaders’ roles in supporting federal policy implementation to uphold MLs’ civil rights, our findings point to the need to support SEA capacity development. ESSA greatly expanded SEAs’ roles, yet little attention and few resources have been allocated to support state-level organizational development. Our findings suggest the need to establish structures and routines that foster cross-departmental collaboration and information sharing. Such collaboration is important for developing capacity within SEAs in ways that enable SEA leaders’ transformative work with districts and schools.

Authors

• Megan Hopkins, University of California - San Diego

• Hayley Ryan Weddle, University of Pittsburgh

• Rebecca J. Lowenhaupt, Boston College

• Veronica Salas, Rhode Island Department of Education