Educational Leaders’ Agentive Power to Disrupt Racial and Linguistic Hierarchies

ABSTRACT

Within the current U.S. climate of post-truth politics, systemic barriers threaten to reify racial and linguistic hierarchies. Students and communities are stuck at the intersection of macro language education policies and micro enactments of said policies. Latinx communities notably are experiencing intensified segregation, even in bilingual education programs designed to support linguistic and cultural diversity. This study brings together two ethnographic investigations exploring the agentive power of educators who acted as policy arbiters to disrupt asymmetrical power relations, implementing meaningful change in rural and suburban bilingual education contexts in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The findings explore the transformative power of single arbiters to disrupt hierarchies,  but led us to problematize the notion of sustaining agentive power within a single arbiter, arguing for collective arbitration networks to maintain long-term advocacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingual education; educational leadership; language education policy

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to humbly thank our educator partners, Lora and Sandra, for their tireless efforts to create equitable and just educational spaces and for their partnership in this study. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Dr. María E. Fránquiz for her helpful and supportive feedback as this piece was initially taking shape and to the journal editors and anonymous reviewers who patiently provided their supportive feedback in helping to refine this work and our articulated ideas. We appreciate the time and effort this takes and are grateful.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristen L. Pratt

Kristen L. Pratt is an assistant professor at Western Oregon University. Her research explores the intersections of language, policy and sociopolitical discourses within education critiquing the intertextuality and interdiscursivity of macro language education policies and micro enactments in linguistically diverse education contexts as these recontextualizations impact equity and access. 

Maria Dantas-Whitney

Maria Dantas-Whitney is a professor at Western Oregon University. Her research addresses issues of identity and agency related to bilingualism/multilingualism and schooling. She explores the development of critical cultural consciousness and critical pedagogical approaches in teacher education utilizing qualitative methods such as ethnography, discourse analysis, and collaborative action research.