High School Principals' Roles in Designing Curricular Structures for Students Designated as English Learners

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Nuanced Analyses of Data to Improve Bilingual Education

Abstract

In exploring factors that limit English Learners’ (ELs’) access to college, research has found that ELs are less likely than their monolingual peers to be enrolled in rigorous academic coursework. This study examines the curricular structures that facilitate or limit ELs’ access to rigorous coursework, attending specifically to school administrators’ design of these structures and their rationale. At the three schools studied, despite principals’ stated beliefs that ELs should be fully integrated and have access to the range of curricular offerings, the curricular structures isolated ELs and limited their access to rigorous courses. The paper argues that principals’ understandings of their leadership roles in the education of ELs shaped their ability and inclination to evaluate and alter their curricular structures.

Author

• Heather Schlaman, University of California - Santa Cruz