Linguicism and Racism in Massachusetts Education Policy

The paper presents a frame analysis of Massachusetts state policy regarding the education of multilingual learners and their teachers through the lens of critical race theory (CRT). My analysis suggests that even though current policy in Massachusetts is framed in terms of the overarching goals of educational quality and equality, in reality it substantively sanctions inequitable practices. This paper demonstrates that racism and linguicism towards multilingual learners are legally sanctioned in Massachusetts public schools as a consequence of state policy, thus contributing to educational disparities. Este artículo presenta un análisis de los marcos conceptuales de la política del estado de Massachusetts en relación con la educación de los alumnos multilingües y sus profesores usando la perspectiva de la teoría crítica de la raza (CRT por sus iniciales en inglés). Mi análisis sugiere que a pesar de que la política actual en Massachusetts se enmarca en términos de objetivos globales de calidad educativa e igualdad, en realidad de manera sustantiva justifica prácticas injustas. En este trabajo se demuestra que el racismo y lingüicismo hacia los alumnos multilingües son apoyados legalmente en las escuelas públicas de Massachusetts como consecuencia de políticas de Estado, lo que contribuye a las desigualdades educativas. Este trabalho apresenta uma análise dos marcos conceituais da política do estado de Massachusetts em relação à educação dos estudantes multilíngues e seus professores utilizando o ponto de vista da teoria racial crítica (CRT por sua sigla em Inglês). Minha análise sugere que, apesar da atual política em Massachusetts está enquadrada em termos de objectivos gerais da qualidade da educação e da igualdade, na realidade justifica um sistema substancialmente injusto. Neste trabalho demonstramos que o racismo e o lingüicismo para os estudantes multilíngues são suportadas legalmente nas escolas públicas de Massachusetts, como resultado das políticas de governo, contribuindo para as desigualdades educacionais

English Is Not \u3ci\u3eAll\u3c/i\u3e That Matters in the Education of Secondary Multilingual Learners and Their Teachers

Utilizing the critical race theory (CRT) construct of majoritarian stories and the already identified story of English-is-all-that-matters in the education of multilingual learners and their teachers, this study illustrates the influence of this powerful narrative in classroom practice. By promoting English-only instruction, maintaining a limited perspective of what it means to know English, and treating multilingual learners as if they were monolingual, this study demonstrates that multilingual learners’ educational opportunities are being limited through a persistent and unhelpful overemphasis on English

Race, difference, meritocracy, and English: majoritarian stories in the education of secondary multilingual learners

Urban Community Teacher Education, University of Colorado, Denver, USA In this study, empirical and conceptual scholarship (approximately 100 studies) regarding the education of secondary multilingual learners and their teachers are analyzed through the lens of critical race theory (CRT). Specifically, four common majoritarian stories are identified that are both challenged and endorsed in the research literature: there is no story about race, difference is deficit, meritocracy is appropriate, and English-is-all-that-matters. This article discusses the literature, the four identified majoritarian stories and the specific ways they are both promoted and countered throughout the literature. The implications of these four majoritarian stories on research, policy, and practice are also addressed and the article concludes with a discussion about the value the identification of these stories offers for future research

English Is Not \u3ci\u3eAll\u3c/i\u3e That Matters in the Education of Secondary Multilingual Learners and Their Teachers

Utilizing the critical race theory (CRT) construct of majoritarian stories and the already identified story of English-is-all-that-matters in the education of multilingual learners and their teachers, this study illustrates the influence of this powerful narrative in classroom practice. By promoting English-only instruction, maintaining a limited perspective of what it means to know English, and treating multilingual learners as if they were monolingual, this study demonstrates that multilingual learners’ educational opportunities are being limited through a persistent and unhelpful overemphasis on English

Linguicism and Racism in Massachusetts Education Policy

The paper presents a frame analysis of Massachusetts state policy regarding the education of multilingual learners and their teachers through the lens of critical race theory (CRT). My analysis suggests that even though current policy in Massachusetts is framed in terms of the overarching goals of educational quality and equality, in reality it substantively sanctions inequitable practices. This paper demonstrates that racism and linguicism towards multilingual learners are legally sanctioned in Massachusetts public schools as a consequence of state policy, thus contributing to educational disparities. Este artículo presenta un análisis de los marcos conceptuales de la política del estado de Massachusetts en relación con la educación de los alumnos multilingües y sus profesores usando la perspectiva de la teoría crítica de la raza (CRT por sus iniciales en inglés). Mi análisis sugiere que a pesar de que la política actual en Massachusetts se enmarca en términos de objetivos globales de calidad educativa e igualdad, en realidad de manera sustantiva justifica prácticas injustas. En este trabajo se demuestra que el racismo y lingüicismo hacia los alumnos multilingües son apoyados legalmente en las escuelas públicas de Massachusetts como consecuencia de políticas de Estado, lo que contribuye a las desigualdades educativas. Este trabalho apresenta uma análise dos marcos conceituais da política do estado de Massachusetts em relação à educação dos estudantes multilíngues e seus professores utilizando o ponto de vista da teoria racial crítica (CRT por sua sigla em Inglês). Minha análise sugere que, apesar da atual política em Massachusetts está enquadrada em termos de objectivos gerais da qualidade da educação e da igualdade, na realidade justifica um sistema substancialmente injusto. Neste trabalho demonstramos que o racismo e o lingüicismo para os estudantes multilíngues são suportadas legalmente nas escolas públicas de Massachusetts, como resultado das políticas de governo, contribuindo para as desigualdades educacionais

Preparing Content Teachers to Work with Multilingual Students

It is well‐documented that content teachers (e.g., math, science, social studies, etc.) have not been adequately prepared to address the increasing number of multilingual students in their classes (Freeman & Freeman, 2014; Lucas, 2011). While many teacher education programs strive to prepare teachers during initial licensure programs (e.g., de Oliveira & Yough, 2015; Freeman & Freeman, 2014; Levine, Howard, & Moss, 2014) and recent work has focused on secondary teacher preparation at both pre‐service and in‐service levels (de Oliveira & Obenchain, 2018; de Oliveira, Obenchain, Kenney, & Oliveira, in press; de Oliveira & Shoffner, 2016; de Oliveira & Wilcox, 2017), the existing conceptual and empirical knowledge‐base for preparing pre‐ and in‐service content teachers is still in its infancy. Faltis and Valdés (2016) argue that what is known—albeit inconclusively—does nevertheless provide helpful guidance upon which we can all build. This chapter seeks to provide a sense of the issues, research, and practices that shape what we know while identifying fruitful directions for deepening the knowledge‐base for preparing K‐12 content teachers for multilingual learners

Disrupting Evasion Pedagogies

As we have researched in schools and reflected on our own teaching, we have come to recognize the lie and our untruthfulness that permeates many of our cultural scripts (Gutierrez et al., 1995) and practices as teachers. It is within these cultural scripts and practices that inequity is perpetuated and humanizing learning evaded. Thus, what we term evasion pedagogies, serve to sustain the status quo and are powerful tools to maintain oppressive projects like white supremacy, heteronormativity, gender binaries, patriarchy, ableism, classism, and linguicism. In this piece, we examine the notion of evasion pedagogies as a powerful lie in practice that needs to be disrupted in teaching and learning across grade levels and contexts. Then, we draw on decades of research to illustrate how existing scholarship offers meaningful opportunities to disrupt evasion pedagogies by focusing on humanization

Preparing Teachers for Culturally Responsive/Relevant Pedagogy (CRP): A Critical Review of Research

Context: Proposed more than two decades ago, culturally relevant/responsive teaching or pedagogy (CRP) is one promising approach to transform education experiences of historically marginalized groups. The development of CRP has since inspired changes in teacher education programs and resulted in considerable research on preparing teachers for CRP. However, critics have argued that much work on CRP has not fulfilled its transformative potential of addressing racism and the white-supremacist foundations underlying teacher education research and practice, and have urged CRP research to grow from the existing knowledge base and to innovate. Purpose of Study: This study critically examines the research practices of empirical studies on preparing K–12 pre-service teachers for CRP in the United States by merging ideas of research as social practice with critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and Indigenous epistemologies to argue for research as racialized social practice. The goal is to provide perspectives and lines of research that are true to the radical shifts the original theories called for, yet might not have been fully fulfilled. Research Design: This critical literature review applies the research-as-racialized-social-practice lens to examine how CRP research studies frame problems and research questions, elaborate theoretical frameworks and research methodology, and discuss findings and implications. Our analysis positions CRP research on the research-as-racialized-social-practice continuum, ranging from maintaining the racist status quo to intentionally disrupting it. Findings: Our analysis reveals that dominant research practices—emphasizing the problem of individual deficiencies rather than inequitable systems, employing a research logic focusing on linearity rather than complexity, and lacking in-depth examination of racialized and cultural ways of knowing for both researchers and participants—maintain the inequitable status quo rather than disrupting taken-for-granted assumptions and practices. While we recognize the important work and useful knowledge accumulated by this body of literature over two decades, we urge teacher educators and researchers to stay vigilant and resist research epistemologies and practices that recenter, recycle, and maintain whiteness, perpetuating the racist status quo. Conclusions: We recommend that teacher education researchers can construct research questions capable of generating new knowledge to disrupt racial injustice; utilize and further develop critical theoretical frameworks that sufficiently attend to various aspects of race and racism in teaching, learning, and society, and are meaningfully linked to disruptive research methodologies; and, finally, attend clearly to the ability of research to disrupt the racist status quo within their findings and implications

Three reading-intervention teachers’ identity positioning and practices to motivate and engage emergent bilinguals in an urban middle school

This study investigated three urban middle-school teachers’ practices with respect to motivating and engaging emergent bilinguals in reading-intervention classrooms by exploring the teachers’ identity positioning. The three teachers’ sociocultural and sociopolitical positioning of their students (e.g., students as individuals, as monolithic learners, or as problems) was found to be related to their practices for motivating and engaging the students (e.g., hybrid, calibrated, or imposed practices). The teachers’ historical and current resources partially shaped how they positioned their students. The findings support that teachers should not only learn motivational practices but also reflect critically on positioning processes in the classroom

Towards a complex framework of teacher learning-practice

Although many researchers agree that teaching is complex and contextually situated, dominant conceptions of teacher learning, and the enactment of such learning in practice, tend to be linear and reductionist. Because simplistic conceptualizations of teaching activity have far-reaching impact on teachers, students, and school systems, generating a complex theory of teacher learning-practice is nothing short of an ethical imperative. To tackle this task, we draw from an emerging body of teacher education scholarship that we consider the beginning of a ‘complex turn’. Drawing on this literature, we distill a set of conceptual shifts that, together, offer a set of theoretical tools to (re)think the processes of, and connections between, teacher learning-practice in ways that better account for the dynamic, multiplicitous, ever-shifting nature of these activities