Finding the Sweet Spot: Interpreting Educational Language Policy Within Rural School Districts Jennifer Joslyn Daniels
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University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Dissertations Student Research 5-1-2015 Finding the Sweet Spot: Interpreting Educational Language Policy Within Rural School Districts Jennifer Joslyn Daniels Follow this and additional works at: http://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Daniels, Jennifer Joslyn, "Finding the Sweet Spot: Interpreting Educational Language Policy Within Rural School Districts" (2015). Dissertations. Paper 19. This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © 2015 JENNIFER J. DANIELS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado The Graduate School FINDING THE SWEET SPOT: INTERPRETING EDUCATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY WITHIN RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Education Jennifer J. Daniels College of Education and Behavioral Sciences Department of Leadership, Policy, and Development: Higher Ed and P-12 Education Educational Leadership and Policy Studies May 2015 This Dissertation by: Jennifer J. Daniels Entitled: Finding the Sweet Spot: Interpreting Educational Language Policy within Rural School Districts has been approved as meeting the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Degree in College of Education and Behavioral Sciences in Department of Leadership, Policy, and Development: Higher Ed and P-12 Education, Program of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Accepted by the Doctoral Committee ____________________________________________________ Linda R. Vogel, Ph.D., Research Advisor ____________________________________________________ Spencer Weiler, Ph.D., Committee Member ____________________________________________________ Anthony Armenta, Ed.D., Committee Member ____________________________________________________ Dana Walker, Ph.D., Faculty Representative Date of Dissertation Defense . Accepted by the Graduate School ___________________________________________________________ Linda L. Black, Ed.D., LPC Dean of the Graduate School and International Admissions ABSTRACT Daniels, Jennifer J. Finding the Sweet Spot: Interpreting Educational Language Policy within Rural School Districts. Published Doctor of Education dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 2015. More than 80% of the school districts in Colorado are rural. Three quarters of the school districts on state improvement plans in 2013 were rural. Many of these school districts have more than 10% English learners, some more than 30%. These school districts often lack resources and expertise to provide effective language programs for their English learners. How language program directors in rural school districts can interpret external policy in order to lead positive change within their school districts for English learners is of interest to language program directors, school district leaders, and state policymakers. From the perspective of critical language policy analysis, this qualitative study resulted in grounded theory about the process of policy interpretation by eight language program directors in rural school districts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and coded. Resulting data were analyzed and interpreted through grounded theory methods (Charmaz, 2006, 2014). Findings included the recognition that language program directors play a key leadership role in organizing sense-making for teachers, empowering language teachers as consultants, and connecting the language team with the school district leadership team. iii An analytical framework was developed in order to provide insight for language program directors as they navigate the balanced tensions of their position and guidance for school district leaders as they hire, train, and support language program directors. English learners deserve high quality language programs within rural settings. Rural school districts with expert language program directors can create powerful site-based reform for English learners to support their academic achievement, their language growth, and their identities as successful bilingual learners. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With gratitude for the privilege I have enjoyed in pursuing this degree, I would like to acknowledge my advisor, Dr. Linda Vogel, and her vision for my completion of this program. I appreciate the service of all my dissertation committee members and would like to particularly thank Dr. Dana Walker for her insight and guidance from the field of language policy and for her encouragement to stick with Wenger. The eight intelligent, dedicated women that I interviewed for this study have been my teachers as I roamed through their words and gleaned from their experiences. They have my utmost respect and my thanks for their generosity and openness with me. I hope that they have experienced some benefit from their participation in the study, and I wish them all the best of success in their service to the English learners in their rural school districts. There were many people who participated with me in this program and made it richer for their presence and for that I thank them. Adrianna and Linnea, thank you both for walking together as a team through the dissertation chapter of our program. Also, to all the readers and fixers--you know who you are--thank you once again for your interest and your time. Special thanks to Christine, Judieth, Joanna, and Kazuyo! v Love and thanks to all of my family for their encouragement and excitement along the way! I wish for everyone I love to experience the satisfaction of this dissertation journey or a similar endeavor in their lives, and I wish this most specifically for my beautiful sons, Ariel, Daniel, and Eliran. Last but not least, my abiding gratitude to my wonderful husband, Jim, for his partnership in this, as in all, and for always. "Our decisions about language policies in education matter to the survival of democracy itself." (Tollefson, 2013a, p. 304) "It is therefore important to have open dialogues and negotiations about this dynamic process of decisions and practices that are based on an educated view of languages, their impact, motivations, and meaning." (Shohamy, 2006a, p. 166) "The river only carves and the mountain only guides, yet in their interaction, the carving becomes the guiding and the guiding becomes the carving." (Wenger, 1998, p. 71) vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Purpose ........................................................................................... 6 Significance of the Study ................................................................. 7 The Colorado Context ..................................................................... 7 Demographics .................................................................... 10 Varied learning profiles of English learners ............. 11 Identifying strengths and needs of English learners ......................................................... 11 Impact of English Learners on Small School Districts ........ 12 Decision-making in Small School Districts.......................... 13 Theoretical Foundations of the Study ............................................ 14 Second Language Acquisition ............................................ 17 Language Policy ................................................................. 18 Language Ideologies .......................................................... 19 Educational Leadership ...................................................... 20 Policy as Practice ............................................................... 21 Delimitations.................................................................................. 22 Researcher Stance ....................................................................... 23 Assumptions ................................................................................. 25 Definition of Terms ........................................................................ 26 Statement of the Problem ............................................................. 28 Research Questions ...................................................................... 30 Organization of the Paper ............................................................. 31 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 33 Introduction ................................................................................... 33 Conducting the Review of Literature .................................. 34 Organization of the Literature Review ................................ 35 vii CHAPTER II continued Policy Interpretation in Education .................................................. 36 The Study of Policy Implementation ................................... 37 Early moments of policy implementation ................. 38 Policy negotiation and appropriation ........................ 38 The policy process ................................................... 41 Nests of collective understanding ................. 42 Sense-making in communities of practice ..... 42 Policy brokers and arbiters............................ 43 Making sense in central office roles .............. 44 Critical approach to policy analysis .........................