This critical literature review employs a novel combination of theoretical perspectives to examine the ways teachers navigate restrictive language policy. Specifically, we examine the documented effects of California's Proposition 227 on pre-service and in-service teachers' language ideologies and classroom practices. In our investigation, we…

This paper describes the author's personal involvement with issues of policy and implementation that were sparked by the "Lau" decision. Topics included are student assessment, the bilingual education wars, the role of research, the paradigm shift with the advent of standards, and California state policy in the education of English…

Policies restricting bilingual education have yielded to policy frameworks touting its benefits. This shift corresponds with evolving lines of debate, focusing now on "how" bilingual education can best support racialized bilingual learners. One element of this new debate is the perspective on language underlying curriculum in bilingual…

The English learner (EL) population has grown by 35% in the last 20 years. However, in addition to new students being identified as ELs, the EL subgroup is being inflated by students who are not being reclassified within a reasonable and developmentally appropriate timeframe. These students, often labeled long term ELs (LTELs), are a product of…

Within the United States, equity for English learners, while essential, has remained elusive. As such, language policy in education is a central issue. When An Act Relative to Language Opportunity for Our Kids (LOOK Act) was passed in 2017 in Massachusetts, it was celebrated as a victory for bilingual education after a 15-year period of mandated…

The population of English learners (ELs) in K-12 schools continues to grow. Between the 2009-10 and 2014-15 school years, the percentage of English learners increased in over half of the states, and in 2017, English learners made up 10.1% of the total student population. Research suggests that in their transition to English, non-native speakers…

English learner (EL) education is widely conceived as services for immigrant-origin students, however nearly one in ten American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students are classified in school as EL. Title III of the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) defines EL eligibility differently for Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous,…

Federal law defines English learner (EL) eligibility differently for Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous, students, allowing for broader entry into the EL category, along with its accompanying resources and services. We interviewed EL leaders from 25 state departments of education to learn about their level of understanding of the…

According to a new analysis by The Education Trust-Midwest, Michigan is underfunding students from low-income backgrounds and English Learners by an estimated $5.1 billion annually compared to what leading states practice and what research indicates is needed for those students to succeed. The analysis also found that Michigan is near the bottom…

The purpose of this study was to understand the varying state educational infrastructure for English Learners (ELs) and to examine the relationship between the educational infrastructure for ELs and student achievement in the U.S. public schools. Based on Hopkins et al. (2016)'s state educational system for ELs framework, a date set was…

In 2013, the California legislature approved the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) as a new way to fund local school districts. The new formula aimed to increase educational equity for low-income, English learners, homeless and foster youth students. The policy established a way to increase funding for school districts with higher percentages…

In this introduction, we establish why school leaders must be attentive to how the organization of educational programs for English Learners impacts the degree to which they are segregated or integrated. We preview each article in the special issue and clarify the contributions that these pieces collectively make to research and practice. We argue…

Fueled by immigration and globalization, the United States has evolved into a nation of linguistically diverse residents; however, English remains the dominant language in schools. A recent language policy initiative emergent in states across the nation, the Seal of Biliteracy challenges English monolingualism by promoting the development of…

Standardized tests play a central role in the U.S. education system, shaping how states hold schools accountable for ensuring that all students have equitable access to a quality education. Schools and districts sometimes also use testing data for high-stakes decisions about teacher pay and whether students can move on to the next grade. It is…

This brief is the first of a four-part series that focuses on bilingual education, bilingual educators, and addressing the bilingual teacher shortage in contexts across the United States. This research was commissioned by the New Jersey State Department of Education, which is committed to providing quality bilingual education to its linguistically…