Reimagining a better
system for ELs
The Coalition for English Learner Equity is a growing coalition of activists, leaders, and educators working to advance equity and justice for linguistically and culturally diverse students.
THE STATEMENT
WHY change is necessary now!
- 1. Valencia, R. R. (2010). Dismantling contemporary deficit thinking: Educational thought and practice. New York: Routledge.
- 2. Kendi, IX. (2020). The American Nightmare. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-nightmare/612457
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Disparities in Graduation rates
Communication Challenges
The COVID 19 pandemic exposed long-standing inequities and laid bare the true degree to which school systems are currently ill-equipped to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students3 in the classroom and in outreach to families. Educators have received little guidance or resources to ensure continuity of learning. With long-term implications of COVID 19 likely to last a generation, school systems must respond in this immediate moment. Moving forward, a sustained and strategic collaboration at all levels of the school system is needed to reimagine the way linguistically and culturally diverse students are served in schools.
There are promising trends of achievement when we look at performance of linguistically and culturally diverse students no longer classified as English Learners. There is now a robust research and practice base from which practitioners can draw from to improve the system4. Yet, evidence-based practices have not yet reached the hearts and minds of educators in classrooms, schools, and districts. The conditions for linguistically and culturally diverse students to succeed and thrive in school are not yet in place.
- 3. This coalition uses the term “linguistically and culturally diverse students” to describe a heterogeneous group of learners that includes students learning in Dual Language contexts, students who are multilingual, and students who are bureaucratically labeled as English learners. These are students for whom language is a reason for their minoritization due to systemic racism, but also for whom language, culture, and literacy are their greatest assets.
- 4. To see a condensed version of the latest research for teaching English learners in English Language Arts see here, and for Mathematics see here.
CORE VALUES
We believe that ALL students, especially linguistically and culturally diverse students, must have:
- access to an engaging, relevant, and humanizing education—a socio-cultural, human endeavor—which is a universal right, central among all civil rights,
- an education that supports them to become knowledgeable, flexible, resourceful, and independent thinkers,
- a coherent learning experience that empowers them to make sense of the world and to appreciate their power to reason, communicate, and create change,
- access to curriculum and instruction that integrates and simultaneously develops content knowledge, disciplinary practices, and language and literacy skills that enable them to pursue academic and career pathways of their choice,
- knowledgeable and caring teachers, schools, and districts that partner with families and caregivers as equals,
- a learning environment that embraces and leverages the linguistic and cultural assets they contribute to their school communities, and
- support networks that foster a positive identity so that they can make choices based on their interests and aspirations, and be prepared to be agents of change in society.
TAKE ACTION
COALITION MEMBERS
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