Educators’ Use of Policy Resources to Understand English-Learner Policies

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that educators’ use of resources influence the ground-level effects of policy. However, we know very little about educators’ utilization of policy resources. This study employs a mixed-methods research design to provide empirical evidence of the policy resources available to education policy implementers and the ways in which individual and school factors influence how educators utilize resources that aid in their understanding of a policy that is of particular importance for one of the fastest-growing student populations in the United States: English learners.

Notes

^1. We opt to use the term English learner because this is the terminology used in the Every Student Succeeds Act, the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The terms English language learner (ELL) and emergent bilingual are widely accepted alternatives to English learner. Prior federal legislation used limited English proficient LEP, but many regard this term as having a negative connotation and deficit orientation (see e.g., August & Hakuta, 1997), so the field has moved away from using it. For example, while the Texas Education Agency has moved toward using ELL in favor of LEP in their policy guidance documents, Texas Administrative Code §89.1203 states the “terms English language learner and limited English proficient student are used interchangeably.”

^2. For the binary indicators (1) and reference categories (0) of these variables, refer to labels in Table 1.

^3. While no-bid contracts available to the public on the TEA website reveal that TEA contracts with Region 20 ESC to develop and make available LPAC resources, TEA remains the publisher of the policy resources.