Co-editors’ introduction: The central role of advocacy in ensuring excellence in education for English learners

To be effective advocates for English learners (ELs), educators must recognize areas in which advocacy is needed and understand actions needed to improve programs and services for ELs and their families (Staehr Fenner, 2013). The articles in this issue of the Bilingual Research journal suggest five areas in which advocacy is crucial: creating school cultures that promote shared responsibility for the social and academic success of second language learners; ensuring access to effective, research-based instructional practices, empowering EL families and communities, ensuring equity in the distribution of resources; and working through professional education organizations to advance social justice and academic equity for ELs.

Advocating for positive school cultures for english learners

Administrators and teachers must advocate to create school cultures that support ELs and produce high academic achievement (Gold, 2006; Howard, Sugarman, Christian, Lindholm-Leary, & Rogers, 2007). To that end, effective advocates share information that helps colleagues understand English Learners and federal and state policies governing language instruction educational program (LIEP) designed to help students become proficient in English and master grade level academic standards. They collaborate with colleagues, families, and community members in creating a shared vision for the education of ELs and a commitment to fidelity of implementation of the specific EL program model(s) offered on their respective campuses. Advocates understand that a shared vision and knowledge base increase ownership of EL programs and, in turn, collective responsibility for student success.

To promote a positive school culture for English Learners, advocates collaborate with colleagues to identify non-negotiable elements of EL program implementation. Examples of non-negotiables include (Gold, 2006; Howard et al., 2007):

• high expectations for the social and academic success of English Learners;

• fidelity of implementation of the language education instructional program model(s) adopted by their respective campus;

• native language and/or English as a second language instruction aligned to state and/or national language proficiency and content standards; and

• assessment of student performance and continuous progress monitoring using valid and reliable instruments and procedures.

In sum, advocates work to implement EL programs and services that are based on sound educational theory and that incorporate best practices in the education of ELs and that provide the fiscal and human resources needed for successful implementation of programs. They participate in regular program evaluations and analysis of student achievement to identify program strengths and areas where improvement is needed to ensure the social and academic success of ELs.

Advocacy for excellence in instructional practices

In effective schools, educators organize as professional learning communities (PLCs) to improve teaching and learning. Advocates recognize the incongruence between the philosophy that all students can learn and the lack of a strategy to address the needs of students who do not meet grade level achievement standards (DuFour, 2004). This is oftentimes the case for English Learners; for example, data on reading outcomes for fourth grade ELs indicate that 92% scored below proficient on the 2015 National Assessment of Education Progress, compared to 62% of non-ELs (National Kids Count, 2015). Advocates help identify instructional practices that have been shown to produce high achievement and/or close achievement gaps. For English Learners, instructional strategies are culturally and linguistically responsive and engage students in active learning approaches (e.g., thematic instruction, cooperative learning, instructional conversations) so that students have multiple opportunities to develop social and academic language in the context of subject and content area instruction (Howard et al., 2007). Teachers in bilingual education programs advocate for consistent native language instruction, in light of research that shows that the native language provides the foundation for success in English-only instruction (Goldenburg, 2010); all EL teachers scaffold and shelter instruction in English to support second language acquisition.

Engagement of parents, families, and communities

EL advocates establish mutually respectful relationships with families and communities. They work to eliminate barriers to family involvement, including racial and cultural stereotypes, and power imbalances resulting from racial/ethnic, cultural, and class differences (Gay, 2013). They make sure that parents and families understand their children’s rights to appropriate, fair, and equitable educational opportunities that are responsive to their children’s linguistic, cultural, and academic needs. And, they help parents understand their right to participate in decisions affecting their children’s education and to receiving timely information about academic progress. Advocates stress the importance of allowing different forms of parent engagement (or non-engagement) and recognize the benefits of grassroots efforts in which parents and community members work together to advocate for programs and services that reflect their personal concerns and needs. Parent engagement is more likely to be sustained when it reflects family and community priorities and mutually respectful, supportive relationships among families, community members, and educators.

Advocacy for equitable resources

EL advocates understand how EL programs are funded and push for equitable allocation of fiscal and human resources, sufficient funding to fully implement EL programs, and for assurance that money allocated to ELs is actually spent on them. They also advocate for resources to be targeted where they are needed most, giving priority to ensuring access to excellent core instruction, providing supplemental intervention to address achievement gaps, hiring highly qualified bilingual education and ESL teachers, providing teachers with continuing professional development opportunities so they remain up-to-date on policy, law, and effective practices. They also lobby for resources to support parent engagement in light of research that shows that students who do best in school are those whose parents are informed and engaged in the teaching-learning process (Olsen & Fuller, 2008).

Advocacy through professional organizations

Effective EL advocates work with colleagues and other stakeholders to improve student learning, promote excellence in instructional practice, and advance school improvement and reform efforts (Childs-Bowen, Moller, & Scrivner, 2000). They are active members of regional, state, and national organizations that specifically focus on ELs (e.g., the National Association for Bilingual Education or Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), or that have special interest groups that support EL students, and use these networks to lobby for social justice and academic equity in the education of ELs. Advocates work to combat policies that work to the detriment of EL achievement, including English only policies and efforts to dismantle or weaken bilingual education programs.

Although the articles and book review that comprise Volume 40, Issue 3 of the Bilingual Research Journal address diverse topics in the bilingual education and English as a second language fields, they all relate, in one way or another, to the importance of advocating for equity and excellence in the education of ELs. The first three articles examine practices for teaching reading, mathematics, and language in elementary and middle school classrooms. The fourth article explores the perspectives of members of a parent group that was founded and organized by and that offers both English and Spanish language classes to parents at a bilingual school and the fifth article examines how teachers engage more deeply with their profession as a result of participation in an association for bilingual educators. The final research article investigates the relationship between school expenditures and outcomes for ELs. Following the six research articles is a book review of an ethnographic study conducted in an exceptional high school in Mexico. Following are highlights presented in the articles and the book review.

The opening article, “The bilingual reading practices and performance of two Hispanic first-graders”, by Angela López-Velásquez and Georgia Earnest García, traces the Spanish/English biliteracy development of two first graders. One girl’s initial reading instruction was in Spanish, while the other’s was in English. Since both girls read in Spanish at home, the qualitative study involved dynamic reading assessments at home and in school. The authors found that the girls’ instruction and exposure to the two languages across school and home contexts seemed to provide them enough experience and motivation to develop and demonstrate heteroglossic and translanguaging practices while reading and discussing texts. They conclude that once instructed in one language, students have access to meaning-making strategies in both languages.

“Leveling the playing field: Graphical aids on mathematics tests,” authored by Albert Jimenez, Casey B. Nixon, and Sally J. Zepeda, is also centered on student performance, this time on standardized mathematics examinations in grades 3 to 5. Data for fourteen elementary schools in a racially diverse district is used to compare student performance on mathematics questions with and without graphical aids. The authors found that “the use of well-constructed, helpful graphical aids can provide students an additional avenue to demonstrate mathematics content knowledge while minimizing the language barrier.” Because not all graphical aids are helpful the authors also question whether it is more beneficial to have no graphical aid, rather than irrelevant or distracting visuals.

The exploration of how middle-school Latina/o youth articulate their intersecting language identities is taken up in “More than a name: Spanish-speaking youth articulating bilingual identities” by Erin MacKinney. Students in this ethnographic study conducted in Coral Way, Florida, navigated the multiple labels ascribed to them. Students resisted the institutional identities ascribed to them, specifically the label of Speakers of Other Languages, and repositioned themselves as language balancers, border crossers and marketable bilinguals. The authors provide implications for educational language policy and programming.

A qualitative study conducted in California is the setting for the fourth article and is titled, “Parents learning language together: The case of a bilingual parent group” by Tracy Quan. The author addresses a critical area in the field of bilingual education by juxtaposing the experiences, challenges, and contributions of both Spanish and English-dominant parents working together in a parent group toward achieving a commonly shared goal. Diálogos is the name of the parent group at a bilingual school that offers language classes to parents of diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Using a community cultural wealth framework, the author argues that Diálogos provides a space to build community, promote bilingualism and leverage Latino immigrant parents’ existing linguistic and social capital. The affirming and positive outcomes of the study have implications for ways parents in bilingual settings can be more effectively integrated in schools.

Bilingual teachers in a bilingual teacher association is a unique topic of inquiry in the bilingual education field. In “Relational professionalism in a bilingual teacher association: Promoting occupational identities and pedagogic agency”, the author, Chris Milk Bonilla, describes new ways to engage bilingual teachers with each other through association meetings, planning for and presenting at a professional conference, self-defined goals and exchanging teaching practices. Based on interviews, the study conceptualizes the importance of being aware of, and developing, relational professionalism as well as the importance of bilingual teachers reflecting on their occupational identities. The author claims that such awareness, development, and reflection promotes a greater sense of confidence in teachers’ pedagogic practice and agency.

The final article in this issue, “School expenditures and academic achievement differences between high-ELL-performing and low-ELL-performing high schools” also provides a unique perspective for consideration in the field of bilingual education. Oscar Jiménez-Castellanos and David García explore differences in academic achievement and expenditures between Texas secondary schools with the highest levels of ELL academic achievement and schools with the lowest EL levels of academic achievement. They found that schools with the highest EL achievement expend much more than schools with the lowest EL achievement, particularly in relation to basic education/instructional services. Their analysis, though, provides a more nuanced understanding of these relationships; for example, a surprising finding was that EL achievemenet was higher when greater funding was allocated to improving general education program outcomes rather than increasing funding to support ELs via additional weights. This suggests that, in addition to language supports, ELs benefit from participation in high quality, rigorous general education courses and high expectations to meet academic benchmarks in the core curriculum. The findings also suggest a need for research that acknowledges the tremendous diversity of the EL population and that examines the intersection of racial/ethnic group membership, EL subgroup (e.g., recent arrival, long-term EL), socioeconomic status, and parents’ educational background in analyses of the relationship between school funding and student achievement.

Rounding out Volume 40, issue 3 is a review by Ana Carolina Atunes of the book, “Juárez Girls Rising: Transformative Education in Times of Dystopia”, published in 2017. In an ethnographic study conducted in her hometown, Claudia Cervantes-Soon culls out the perspectives of ten high school girls who attend Preparatória Altavista, a school located across the border between El Paso, Texas and Juárez, Mexico. While the realities for students on both sides of the border were starkly different, this ethnography provides important lessons on how young women navigate societal gendered expectations and violence and how their academic success was tied to ways civic mindedness and civic engagement were reflected in the curricula and valued by their teachers.

Summary

In 2015, 68% of English Learners in fourth grade scored below basic in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress; 43% scored below basic in math (Office of English Language Acquisition, 2016), In both instances, scores were lower than they were in 2005. These results reinforce the importance of reform initiatives focused on improving teaching and learning and closing achievement gaps between ELs and their non-EL peers. The articles in this issue of the Bilingual Research Journal provide excellent examples of how understanding the diversity of the EL population and factors that contribute to their success, effective assessment and instructional practices, and sufficient fiscal and human resources contribute to improved social and academic outcomes for second language learners. They also illustrate the power of advocacy on behalf of the nation’s fastest growing segment of the public school student population.