Understanding Opportunities to Learn for English Learner Students With Disabilities, Before and After Reclassification

• In Event: Examining Opportunity to Learn for Multilingual Students

Abstract

Purpose: At the secondary level, high proportions of English learners (ELs) are also classified as having a disability (Author 2 & Others, 2017). While numerous studies demonstrate that ELs often face restricted access to core content (e.g., Callahan, 2005; Dabach, 2014; Kanno & Kangas, 2014), little is known specifically about opportunities to learn for English learners with disabilities (ELSWDs). Similarly, while prior research has demonstrated that students may gain increased access to core content once they attain English proficiency and are reclassified (Callahan & Shifrer, 2016; Umansky, 2016), little prior research examines the impact of reclassification on ELSWDs specifically. We analyze opportunities to learn before and after the reclassification process for ELSWDs, to better understand: 1) What factors impact ELSWDs’ opportunities to learn? 2) Do ELSWDs’ learning opportunities vary by district, school, disability type, and grade level? and 3) How does reclassification shape ELSWDs’ opportunities to learn?

Theoretical Framework: Building on prior work that uses the opportunity to learn framework (Oakes, 1985) to analyze the educational experiences of ELs (e.g., Callahan, 2005; Dabach, 2014; Kanno & Kangas, 2014), we extend this framework to analyze opportunities to learn for ELSWDs specifically. We consider factors shaping opportunity to learn at the district, school, and classroom level, analyzing students’ access to core content courses as well as the instructional practices within the courses in which they are placed.

Methods and Data: We conducted a qualitative comparative case study with six secondary-level ELSWDs to ground inquiry in students’ lived experiences (Merriam, 2009) and understand related social dynamics and little-studied situations and phenomena (Harry, Kilingner, Sturges, & Moore, 2002). We compared students’ opportunities to learn across three school districts in the same state using five data sources: (1) student academic records; (2) classroom observations; (3) reclassification meeting observations; (4) interviews with students, parents, teachers, and administrators; and (5) related documents.

Results: Preliminary analysis found constrained opportunities to learn for ELSWDs. Students’ enrollment in multiple non-credit courses—including English language development (ELD) and special education courses—limited their access to the coursework necessary to meet graduation requirements. At the classroom level, ELSWD case study students were typically engaged in procedural, lower-order thinking tasks that lacked rigor. When higher order thinking tasks were assigned, case study students received little direct or scaffolded instruction and depended on substantial one-on-one assistance to complete tasks. Following reclassification, some case study students had access to more rigorous coursework, such as a writing class that replaced an ELD course. For other reclassified students, an ELD course was replaced by another non-credit course that did not involve rigor, such as a credit recovery class, or spending a class period as a teacher assistant.

Significance: Given the large proportion of secondary ELs who are identified as having a disability and the heavily constrained opportunities to learn ELSWDs may be experiencing, there is a pressing need for collaboration between researchers and practitioners to identify and design innovative ways to expand students’ opportunity to learn, building on students’ assets.

Authors

• Jamey Burho, Oregon State University

• Karen D. Thompson, Oregon State University