Published Year:
2021
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), state educational agencies (SEAs) and school districts are responsible for locating, identifying, and evaluating all students, including English learners (ELs), who have disabilities1 and who need special education and related services2 because of their disability.3 During school year (SY) 2017–18, nearly 12.0%4 of all students ages 6 through 21 enrolled in U.S. public schools were served under IDEA Part B. Of those students, 11.2%5 were ELs. That same year, ELs comprised 10.0%6 of all students enrolled in K–12.
Published Year:
2021
STEM teacher educators are aware that they teach far more than content-specific methodology. Educators need to guide STEM teachers in the knowledge and skills to support emergent multilingual students (English learners, or ELs) by simultaneously developing their STEM content learning and scaffolding their language acquisition. The authors advocate for a STEM family engagement model that honors and grows out of families' existing funds of knowledge. They argue for STEM teacher educators to explicitly address multilingual family engagement as a key part of STEM education.
Published Year:
2021
Home Language Surveys (HLS) are widely used by states as an initial screening tool to determine whether students should receive English language services. Typically, parents or guardians are asked to complete the HLS when enrolling a student in school. The authors collected surveys from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and then completed them as if they were the parent/guardian of six use-case students. The guiding research questions were (1) How do HLS vary from state to state, if at all? (2) What kinds of questions do HLS ask?
Published Year:
2021
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 diverse student population.
Published Year:
2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities within our education systems, and, in many cases, has further marginalized students of refugee and migrant backgrounds. This paper elevates the voices of educators working with resettled refugee students in the United States to identify what is needed in this time of a global pandemic to support and sustain teachers working at these margins of education.
Published Year:
2021
This brief is the fourth 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 diverse student population. In this brief, we describe Washington state's approach to bilingual education and detail the ways in which state leaders have leveraged policy and funding to expand access to it.
Published Year:
2021
Federal law defines eligibility for English learner (EL) classification differently for Indigenous students compared to non-Indigenous students. Unlike non-Indigenous students, Indigenous students are not required to have a non-English home or primary language. A critical question, therefore, is how EL classification impacts Indigenous students' educational outcomes.
Published Year:
2021
This brief is the second 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 diverse student population. Many specialized subject areas face shortages of teachers who can fill positions, and bilingual education is no exception.