Abstract
In an effort to reverse the reading crisis purported to plague public education, schools and districts are mandating prescriptive reading programs and teacher-centered instructional practices in hopes of improving the academic achievement of minority students, including English learners (ELs). The wide-spread implementation of these programs in schools and classrooms serving ELs is particularly striking in California, where there are large numbers of ELs, as these programs were developed for monolingual, English-speaking children, not ELs. Drawing on interviews with 32 teachers in four Northern California elementary schools serving primarily ELs from Latino backgrounds, we found that most teachers required to use one such program, Open Court Reading (OCR), did not think that it addressed the needs of ELs or tapped into their interests and/or understandings. That is, the top-down, one-size-fits-all policy mandate was not grounded in an understanding of ELs’ language and literacy instructional needs. In light of our findings, we support policies that enable teachers to provide quality instruction that addresses the needs, interests, and understandings of all students, particularly ELs, who are often the, most underserved. This includes policies that promote the development of reflective, inquiring, and knowledgeable teachers who, in collaboration with colleagues and other educational stakeholders, play a key role in the policy making process.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Achinstein, B., & Ogawa, R. T. (2006). (In) Fidelity: What the resistance of new teachers reveals about professional principles and prescriptive educational policies. Harvard Educational Review, 76(1), 30–63.
Achinstein, B., Ogawa, R., & Spiegalman, A. (2005). Are we creating separate and unequal tracks of teachers? The impact of state policy, local conditions, and teacher characteristics on new teacher socialization. American Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 557–603.
Altwerger, B., Arya, P., Jin, L., Jordan, N. L., Laster, B., Martens, P., et al. (2004). When research and mandates collide: The challenges and dilemmas of teacher education in the era of NCLB. English Education, 36(2), 119–133.
Alvarez, L., & Corn, J. (2008). Exchanging assessment for accountability: The implications of high-stakes reading assessments for English learners. Language Arts, 85(5), 354–365.
Apple, M. W. (1988). Teachers and texts: A political economy of class and gender relations in education. New York: Routledge.
August, D., & Shanahan, T. (Eds.). (2006). Developing reading and writing in second language learners: Lessons from the report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bloch, C., Guzula, X., & Nkence, N. (2010). The ongoing struggle to implement mother-tongue based bilingual education. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 88–106). New York: Routledge.
Clay, M. M. (1993). An observation survey of early literacy achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Coburn, C. E. (2001). Collective sensemaking about reading: How teachers mediate reading policy in their professional communities. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(2), 145–170.
Coburn, C. E. (2004). Beyond decoupling: Rethinking the relationship between the institutional environment and the classroom. Sociology of Education, 77(3), 211–244.
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Cummins, J. (2007). Pedagogies for the poor? Realigning reading instruction for low-income students with scientifically based reading research. Educational Researcher, 36(9), 564–572.
Datnow, A., & Castellano, M. (2000). Teachers’ responses to success for all: How beliefs, experiences, and adaptations shape implementation. American Educational Research Journal, 37(3), 775–799.
Datnow, A., Hubbard, L., & Mehan, H. (2002). Extending educational reform: From one school to many. London and New York: Routledge/Falmer.
Davis, K. (in press). Ethnographic approaches to second language acquisition. In A. S. Ohta (Eds.), Social/interaction and complexity theory approaches to SLA. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Dudley-Marling, C., & Paugh, P. (2005). The rich get richer; The poor get direct instruction. In B. Altwerger (Ed.), Reading for profit: How the bottom line leaves kids behind (pp. 156–171). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Duncan-Owens, D. (2009). Scripted reading programs: Fishing for success. Principal, 88, 26–29.
Evans, B., & Hornberger, N. H. (2005). No child left behind: Repealing and unpeeling federal language education policy in the United States. Language Policy, 4, 87–106.
Fang, Z., Fu, D., & Lamme, L. L. (2004). From scripted instruction to teacher empowerment: Supporting literacy teachers to make pedagogical transitions. Literacy, 35(1), 58–64.
Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (1996). Guided reading: Good first teaching for all children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Freeman, J. (2010). Reforma, lenguaje y cultura escolar: Un estudio etnográfico de la relación entre la cultura y la enseñanza de la lecto-escritura durante la implementación de una reforma educativa en un jardín de niños público. Tesis de Doctorado Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Galdames, V., & Gaete, R. (2010). Chilean literacy education policies and classroom implementation. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 232–246). New York: Routledge.
Gándara, P. (2000). In the aftermath of the storm: English learners in the post-227 era. Bilingual Research Journal, 24(1–2), 1–13.
Gándara, P., & Baca, G. (2008). NCLB and California’s English learners. The perfect strom. Language Policy, 7(3), 201–216.
Gándara, P., Maxwell-Jolly, J., & Driscoll, A. (2005). Listening to teachers of English learners. Santa Cruz: Center for the Future of Teaching/Learning.
García, O., & Menken, K. (2010a). Moving forward: Ten guiding principles for teachers. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 262–267). New York: Routledge.
García, O., & Menken, K. (2010b). Stirring the onion: Educators and the dynamics of language education policies (looking ahead). In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 249–261). New York: Routledge.
Gerstl-Pepin, C. I., & Woodside-Jiron, H. (2005). Tensions between the “science” of reading and a “love of learning”: One high-poverty school’s struggle with NCLB. Equity and Excellence in Education, 38(3), 232–241.
Gitlin, A., & Margonis, F. (1995). The political aspects of reform: Teacher resistance as good sense. American Journal of Education, 102, 377–405.
Gutiérrez, K. D., Asato, J., Santos, M., & Gotanda, N. (2002). Backlash pedagogy: Language and culture and the politics of reform. The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 24, 335–351.
Gutiérrez, K. D., Baquedano-López, P., & Asato, J. (2000). “English for the children”: The new literacy of the old world order, language policy and educational reform. Bilingual Research Journal, 24(1 & 2), 87–112.
Hall, K., Ozark, C., & Valla, Y. (1999). Curriculum reform, with particular reference to primary literacy, in contemporary English and Norwegian official documents. European Journal of Intercultural Studies, 10(1), 85–104.
Handsfield, L., Crumpler, T., & Dean, T. R. (2009). “Is this legal?” Curricular spaces, tactical positioning, and literacy instruction in a fourth-grade classroom. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Hargreaves, A. (2003). Teaching in the knowledge society: Education in the age of insecurity. NY: Teachers College Press.
Hargreaves, A. (2005). Educational change takes ages: Life, career and generational factors in teachers’ emotional responses to educational change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(8), 967–983.
Harper, C. A., de Jong, E., & Platt, E. J. (2008). Marginalizing English as a second language teacher expertise: The exclusionary consequence of No Child Left Behind. Language Policy, 7, 267–284.
Hassett, D. D. (2008). Teacher flexibility and judgment: A multidynamic literacy theory. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 8(3), 295–327.
Hélot, C. (2010). “Tu sais bien parler Maîtresse!”: Negotiating languages other than French in the primary classroom in France. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 52–71). New York: Routledge.
Hélot, C., & Young, A. (2006). Imagining multilingual education in France: A language and cultural awareness project at primary level. In O. Garcia, T. Skutnabb-Kangas, & M. E. Torres-Guzman (Eds.), Imagining multilingual schools: Languages in education and glocalization (pp. 69–90). Cleveland, England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Hornberger, N. H., & Johnson, D. C. (2007). Slicing the onion ethnographically: Layers and spaces in multilingual language education policy and practice. TESOL Quarterly, 41(3), 509–532.
Ingersoll, R. M. (2003). Who controls teachers’ work?: Power and accountability in America’s schools. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Joseph, R. (2006). “I won’t stop what I’m doing”: The factors that contribute to teachers’ proactive resistance to scripted literacy programs. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
MacGillivray, L., Ardell, A. L., Curwen, M. S., & Palma, J. (2004). Colonized teachers: Examining the implementation of a scripted reading program. Teaching Education, 15(2), 131–144.
McCarthey, S. (2008). The impact of no child left behind on teachers’ writing instruction. Written Communication, 25(4), 462–505.
McGill-Franzen, A., Zmach, C., Solic, K., & Zeig, J. L. (2006). The confluence of two policy mandates: Core reading programs and third-grade retention in Florida. The Elementary School Journal, 107(1), 67–91.
Menken, K. (2008). English learners left behind: Standardized testing and language policy. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Menken, K., & García, O. (2010a). Introduction. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 1–10). New York: Routledge.
Menken, K., & García, O. (Eds.). (2010b). Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers. New York: Routledge.
Moustafa, M., & Land, R. E. (2002). The reading achievement of economically-disadvantaged children in urban schools using Open Court vs. comparably disadvantaged children in urban schools using non-scripted reading programs. In Yearbook of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research. Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association, pp. 44–53.
Oakes, J. (1985). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality. New Heaven: Yale University Press.
Orellana, M., & Gutiérrez, K. (2006). What’s the problem? Constructing different genres for the study of English learners. Research in the Teaching of English, 41(1), 118–123.
Pease-Alvarez, L., & Samway, K. D. (2008). Negotiating a top-down reading program mandate: The experience of one school. Language Arts, 86(1), 32–41.
Pease-Alvarez, L., & Thompson, A. (in press). Teachers organizing to resist in a context of compliance. In K. Davis. (Eds.), Critical qualitative research in second language studies: Agency and advocacy on the Pacific Rim. Greenwich, CN: Information Age Publishing.
Pérez Abril, M. (2005). Un marco para pensar: configuraciones didácticas en el campo del lenguaje, en la educación básica. In F. Vásquez Rodríguez (Ed.), La didáctica de la lengua maternal: Estado de la discusión en Colombia (pp. 47–66). Cali: Universidad del Valle.
Rich, E. (2009). NCTE’s stance on reading bill sparks controversy within ranks. Education Week, November 25, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2009 from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2009/11/ncte_wrap_up.html.
Ruiz, N. T., & Morales-Ellis, L. (2005). “Gracias por la oportunidad, pero voy a buscar otro trabajo”: A beginning teacher resists high-stakes curriculum. In B. Altwerger (Ed.), Reading for profit: How the bottom line leaves kids behind (pp. 199–215). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Rumberger, R. W., & Gándara, P. (2004). Seeking equity in the education of California’s English learners. Teachers College Record, 106(10), 2032–2056.
Smagorinsky, P. (2009). The cultural practice of reading and the standardized assessment of reading instruction: When in commensurate worlds collide. Educational Researcher, 38(7), 522–527.
SRA/McGraw-Hill. (2004). Retrieved November 6, 2004 from http://www.sraonline.com/index.php/home/curriculumsolutions/reading/ocr/622.
Suárez-Orozco, C., Suárez-Orozco, M., & Todorova, I. (2008). Learning a new land: Immigrant students in American society. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Sunderman, G. L., Kim, J. S., & Orfield, G. (2005). NCLB meets school realities: Lessons from the field. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Swadener, B. B., & Lubeck, S. (1995). Children and families “at risk”: Deconstructing the discourse of risk. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Tesch, R. (1990). Qualitative research: Analysis types and software tools. New York: Falmer Press.
Tyack, D. (1974). The one best system: A history of American urban education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Valdés, G. (2004). Between support and marginalization: The development of academic language in linguistic minority children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7(2–3), 102–132.
Valdivieso, L. A. (2010). “Angles make things difficult”: Teachers’ interpretations of language policy and Quechua revitalization in Peru. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 72–87). New York: Routledge.
Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Willett, J., & Rosenberger, C. (2005). Critical dialogue: Transforming the discourses of educational reform. In L. Pease-Alvarez & S. R. Schecter (Eds.), Learning, teaching, and community: Contributions of situated and participatory approaches to educational innovation (pp. 191–213). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Willett, J., Harman, R., Hogan, A., Lozano, M. E., & Rubeck, J. (2008). Transforming standard practices to serve the social and academic learning of English language learners. In L. Stoops Verplaetese & N. Migliacci (Eds.), Inclusive pedagogy for English language learners: A handbook of research-informed practices (pp. 16–54). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wilson, P., Martens, P., Arya, P., & Altwerger, B. (2004). Readers, instruction, and the NRP. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(3), 242–246.
Woods, P. (1994). Teachers under siege: Resistance and appropriation in English primary schools. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 25(3), 250–265.
Zakharia, Z. (2010). (Re)constructing language policy in a Shi'i school in Lebanon. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 162–181). New York: Routledge.
Zehr, M. A. (2009). Draft literacy bill would boost funds for older students. Education Week, 28(35), 19.
Zhang, Y., & Hu, G. (2010). Between intended and enacted curricula: Three teachers and a mandated curricular reform in mainland China. In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 12–142). New York: Routledge.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported in part by a grant from the University of California Language Minority Research Institute (LMRI). We would like to thank Kendall King, an editor of Language Policy, and the anonymous reviewers for their feedback and suggestions.
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Pease-Alvarez, L., Samway, K.D. & Cifka-Herrera, C. Working within the system: teachers of English learners negotiating a literacy instruction mandate. Lang Policy 9, 313–334 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-010-9180-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-010-9180-5