Promoting Equity for Multilingual Learners With Disabilities

This book examines the nature of equity for one of the most vulnerable populations of K–12 students—multilingual learners (MLs) with disabilities.

Drawing from a rich array of research and experiences as a teacher educator and policy consultant, the author demonstrates how MLs with disabilities encounter inequities in predictable, repeated ways throughout their schooling. Kangas establishes how these patterned inequities pervade education systems, school policies, and processes, ultimately stifling the learning opportunities and educational rights of students with intersecting language learning and disability needs.

Through concrete recommendations and helpful resources, the text empowers educators, researchers, and policymakers to detect and dismantle patterned inequities in their respective roles. This is an important guide for all stakeholders wishing to promote equitable learning and life opportunities for MLs with disabilities.

Book Features:

• Examines contemporary research across a range of topics (e.g., service provision, individualized plans, reclassification, and policy).
• Offers a lens for understanding the challenges and solutions to supporting multilingual learners with disabilities.
• Focuses on equity and social justice in education systems, classrooms, and policies.
• Written to be accessible for a wide range of stakeholders, including K–12 administrators and teachers, researchers, and policymakers.

Sara E. N. Kangas is an associate professor and director of the special education and ESL programs in the College of Education at Lehigh University.

“Improving learning for every child is a daunting task, particularly if educators believe they are responsible only for particular kinds of learners. Sara Kangas’s new book reminds us that emancipatory policy must be geared to creating learning spaces that belong to all learners. To respond to the hybridity of today’s learners who bring complex needs, strengths, and capacities, we need policy conditions that promote and sustain learning cycles among and between educators and their students. Kangas addresses the need for educators to lean into the complexities that shape our brains, our hearts, and our futures.”
—Elizabeth B. Kozleski, faculty co-director, Learning Differences Initiative, Stanford Accelerator for Learning, Stanford University

“Dr. Kangas delivers a groundbreaking and deeply compassionate examination of the systemic barriers facing dually identified students—and offers clear, evidence-based solutions for educators committed to dismantling those barriers. This essential text empowers readers to take strategic, actionable steps, whether they work in the classroom or at the highest levels of policy.”
—Megan Hopkins, professor and chair, Department of Education Studies, UC San Diego

“In Promoting Equity for Multilingual Learners with Disabilities, Sara Kangas takes a historical perspective, denouncing the myths, deficit lenses, and dated theoretical approaches that continue to promote the systemic barriers multilingual learners (MLs) with disabilities experience. Dr. Kangas also offers a futuristic lens in the form of what she describes as ‘pathways forward,’ or concrete approaches, which district and school leaders and teachers can implement to ensure that bilingual and bicultural individuals with disabilities can learn without giving up any of their various and fluid identities. I trust that this book will incentivize new educational approaches located at the intersection of research and practice to continue to pursue inclusive and equitable experiences for our MLs with disabilities.”
—Patricia Martínez-Álvarez, associate professor of bilingual/bicultural education, Teachers College, Columbia University

“In Promoting Equity for Multilingual Learners With Disabilities, Sara Kangas provides a deeply thoughtful and necessary guide for those working to better support dually identified students, who too often fall through the cracks. With clarity and care, Kangas offers sharp analysis alongside the practical tools needed to build more inclusive, responsive systems where multilingual students with disabilities can truly thrive.”
—María Cioè-Peña, assistant professor, Educational Linguistics Division, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education

Contents

Preface  xi

PART I: EQUITY FOUNDATIONS

1.  Introduction  3
Demographic Overview of MLs With Disabilities  4
Inequities Experienced by MLs With Disabilities  6
Audiences of the Book  7
Structure and Features of the Book  7
A Few Thoughts  10

2.  Patterned Inequities  11
Pattern One: Language-or-Disability Filter  11
Pattern Two: Unitary Identity  14
Pattern Three: Specialization Trap  16
Patterned Inequities Up Close: Disproportionality and Special Education Evaluation  18
Summary  24

PART II: EQUITY IN SYSTEMS

3.  Organization of Services and Students  29
The Organization of Services and Students: Key Research Findings  30
Evidence of Patterns  33
Responses to Patterned Inequities in the Organizing of Services and Students  41
Summary  48
Recommended Resources  48

4.  Individualized Plans and Teams  50
The Organization of Individualized Plans and Teams: Key Research Findings  51
Evidence of Patterns  54
Responses to Patterned Inequities in Individualized Plans and Teams  61
Summary  68
Recommended Resources  68

5.  Teacher Education Programs and Professional Certifications  70
The Organization of Teacher Education Programs and Certifications: Key Trends  72
Evidence of Patterns  73
Responses to Patterned Inequities in Teacher Education Programs and Certifications  77
Summary  81

PART III: EQUITY IN CLASSROOMS

6.  High Expectations  85
High Expectations: Key Research Findings  87
Evidence of Patterns  89
Responses to Patterned Inequities in Teacher Expectations  92
Summary  97
Recommended Resources  97

7.  Rigorous Instruction  99
Rigorous Instruction: Key Research Findings  99
Evidence of Patterns  104
Responses to Patterned Inequities in Instruction  107
Summary  117
Recommended Resources  117

8.  Sound Data Interpretation and Use  119
Sound Interpretation and Use of Data: Key Research Findings  120
Evidence of Patterns  122
Responses to Patterned Inequities in Data Use and Interpretation  125
Summary  129

PART IV: EQUITY IN POLICIES

9.  Academic Standard Policies  133
Reclassification Policies: Key Research Findings  134
Evidence of Patterns  137
Responses to Patterned Inequities in Academic Standard Policies  143
Summary  150

10.  State Policy Contexts  151
SEAs: Key Research Findings  152
Evidence of Patterns  153
Responses to Patterned Inequities in SEAs  156
Summary  165
Recommended Resources  166

PART V: CONCLUSION

11.  Pathways Forward  169
Our Awareness  169
Our Response  172
Final Thoughts  181

Notes  183

References  185

Index  211

About the Author  225