Equity for English Learner Students: Every Student Succeeds Act Plans and States' Immigrant, Language, and Education Policies

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Unpacking the Intersection of Race and Immigration in Urban Schools

Abstract

Over the past two decades, U.S. policies towards immigrants and immigration have become increasingly polarized. The shift of English learner (EL) oversight from the federal to the state level under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015) provides a unique opportunity to examine whether and how states’ policies towards immigrants inform their EL educational policies. The present study examines how states’ immigrant, language, and education policies inform the extent to which their ESSA implementation plans reflect equity for EL students. Using a critical policy analysis approach, we find four distinct patterns of alignment and internal conflict that reflect key demographic indicators that characterize both the states’ immigrant contexts of reception and the social construction of immigrants through state policy.

Authors

• Rebecca M. Callahan, University of Vermont

• Leslie Gautsch, University of California - San Diego

• Megan Hopkins, University of California - San Diego

• Maria Unda, The University of Texas at Austin