Legal Entanglement Part 4

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LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 Legal Entanglement Part 4 School of Education, Liberty University Author Note

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 Legal Entanglement: Multilingual Learners Policy Part A: Policy Multilingual Learners Policy In recent years, there has been a rise in multilingual learners throughout the United States. The multilingual learners entering schools in America can be students from a new country or students who speak one or more languages. MLL students must receive equitable support inside and outside the classroom (Alrubail, 2016). The State of New York has created rules and regulations to ensure that MLL students receive the proper education regardless of their English language proficiency. Achievement First Brownsville Middle School is a Public Charter School doing everything possible to support MLL students with limited resources and proper staff. All Achievement First schools adhere to the network's policy and guidelines, depending on their state (Rhode Island, Connecticut, or New York). In New York, Achievement First follows the New York Department of Education and New York Charter School Guidelines, supporting MLL students with limited resources and proper staff. All Achievement First schools adhere to the policy and guidelines of the network depending on their state (Rhode Island, Connecticut, or New York). Achievement First also follows the New York Department of Education and New York Charter Schools guidelines in New York. Narrative analyzing the Policy regarding Moral and Legal Implications The rise of MLL students is a new challenge that all educators will potentially face throughout their careers. Learning a new language and rigorous content without the proper resources could limit MLL students’ potential in the classroom. MLL students must be given adequate resources to achieve educational success. Achievement First has created guidelines to

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 support MLL students, but these guidelines are insufficient. Typically, materials for MLL students are translated into their native language, but no additional support in learning the English language is given. In the Spring of each school year, MLL students must take the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test. Achievement First Brownsville Middle School students show a significant gap in the NYSESLAT as they are not learning intense grammar through an English New Language Program. Achievement First Charter School network should focus on closing the gap for MLL students by providing various ways to increase the four language domain levels. Part B: Policy, Program or Practice Amendment/ Changes The Achievement First Charter should adhere to all New York State Department of Education Policies regarding Multilingual Learners. Charter Schools in New York State are to follow state rules to an extent. The State of New York educates thousands of multilingual learners who can achieve academically and proficiently in English. Achievement First’s values are known as “lead for racial equity, strive for excellence, embrace challenge, care for the whole person, choose joy, and go further together” (Achievement First, 2023). Achievement First does not fully reflect these values regarding MLL students. Multilingual learners receive content materials in their native language. An English New Language Program offered in NYC DOE schools needs to be implemented in Achievement First Charter Schools in New York. Incorporating an ENL (English as a New Language) program will allow Achievement First members to strive for excellence and embrace challenges for MLL students while learning the English language.

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LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 Adhere to Multilingual learners by providing them equitable education. In a charter school such as Achievement First, assessments are written and provided to teachers. The assessments are tracked throughout all Achievement First schools in the three states. These assessments are limiting MLL students from being proficient in English. Typically, teachers will translate the assessment to the student’s native language. The institution should reconsider modifying the assessment based on student’s English language proficiency. Upholding Values in the Face of Adversity Being an Achievement First Charter School member shows that the Multilingual Learner Network Specialist is doing everything possible to ensure that Multilingual learners can receive the proper education in the best feasible way, following state guidelines for Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. In many classrooms, MLL students are being provided translated materials in their native language and are listening to English conversations that can make them confused. A parent of a multilingual learner wants their students to become proficient in English. Achievement First Charter School MLL students lack recourses such as intense grammar in learning English. Part 2: Collaboration Analysis There must be a contingency plan for Achievement First to adhere to their core values in supporting multilingual learners. At Achievement First Brownsville Middle School, there has been an increase in Multilingual learners in the past two school years, a total of thirty-three students. Ten of these MLL students are asylum-seeking students from South America. Two other AF schools, Bushwick and North Brooklyn Prep Middle School, have over one hundred MLL students. Achievement First Multilingual Learner Director Maggie Fox (pseudonym) has done a

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 fantastic job providing resources to Deans of Special Services to support MLL students. Unfortunately, this is insufficient to ensure that MLL students receive the proper education. To improve the education of MLL students, a collaboration must occur. Maggie Fox, the MLL director, should work closely with teachers within the Achievement First elementary, middle, and high schools in New York to support MLL students. In addition, each school should create strong relationships with its students and their families. Research has shown that multilingual students can achieve academically when developing language proficiency and academic content. (REL Soutwest, 2023). Working in collaboration with teachers, students, and families will allow us to see an increase in MLL students' achievement and language proficiency growth. Data Analysis Charter Schools throughout the United States have distinct rules for governing their schools. The charter organization establishes the operation of its schools. With this compliance, charter schools must show student academic achievement through data results. (Essex, 2016). The Achievement First organization has network leaders who pick the curriculum and create student assessments. Assessments may be altered to meet the state's educational standards. AF creates intermediate assessments (IA) and Mock assessments in a school year (IA) and Mock assessments that mimic the state's English Language Arts and Mathematics exams. In October 2023, Brownsville Middle School took its first IA for ELA and mathematics. Depending on their language proficiency, multilingual learners could take the IA’s in their native language. Twenty students are at the entering level, two at the emerging level, four at the expanding level, two at the transitioning level, and five at the commanding level. Students at the expanding,

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 transitioning, and commanding levels did not receive their IA assessment in their native language. After both intermediate assessments were graded, the dean of special services calculated the average for the multilingual learners. For all four grades, the ELA IA had an average of 35 %, while the Math IA had an average of 23 %. The interim assessment data for ELA and Mathematics provides an accurate result that multilingual learners are not achieving academic materials. Teachers are teaching content materials in the English language, with minimal support other than translated materials for their students. In 5 th grade ELA class, ELA teachers have entirely changed the MLL classwork that does not align with the rest of the class. In addition, roughly ten of the MLL students have interrupted formal education. They are two grade levels below in their native language for reading and mathematics. SIFE students are exceptional students from various cultural, ethnic, racial, national, and linguistic backgrounds. In the United States, many schools face the challenge of supporting MLL students with interrupted formal education. Challenges can include lack of proper resources to support MLL students in academics and language acquisition [CITATION Lui \l 1033 ]. In Spring of 2023, of the 2022-2023 school year, Multilingual learners at Brownsville Middle School took the New York State English as a Second Language Test (NYSESLAT). Unfortunately, after the data was entered into the ATS NYC DOE system, it disappeared. The MLL students that took the NYSESLAT do not have a score report. An observation that was made by the Dean of Special Services when administering the NYSESLAT is that these MLL students were lost and did not provide answers on their exam.

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LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 Policy Analysis Achievement First Charter organization has not been correctly supporting the rise of Multilingual learners. Teachers are trying their best to provide translated materials for their MLL students for content materials, but there is a gap in English language acquisition. In addition, teachers must also ensure that all students take the required assessments by the deadline the network provides. Fox, the MLL Director for Multilingual learners, has created the 2023-2024 Assessment Translation Policy and Guidelines for all AF schools in the three states. Regarding STEM (Science and Math) assessments, MLL students with specific criteria, such as entering and emerging language proficiency or having been in the country for less than three years, are allowed translated assessments in their native language. For humanities (ELA and history), assessment accommodations occur for students who have been in the country for a year or less. According to the New York State Education Department, specific test accommodations exist for content assessment and the ELA state exam. MLL students are allowed time extensions on all their exams and can receive separate locations/ small groups. During the listening passage on the 3-8 ELA assessments, the proctor may read the exam aloud thrice. In addition, MLL students can use bilingual glossaries for state exams and content assessments [ CITATION New2313 \l 1033 ]. The policy and guidelines for MLL students at Achievement First schools in New York do not follow the guidelines that New York State provides for MLL students. In addition, AF requires students to receive non-translated materials in ELA and History assessments after being in the country for over a year. This policy does not support MLL students as they are not learning the intensive grammar in an ENL program to be able to take humanities assessments in the English language with little scaffolds.

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 Focal Group Analysis For Achievement First to be able to strive for the value of leading for racial equity for the MLL students in New York, group members must work together. Group members at AF Brownsville Middle School can include the MLL director, leadership team, and content teachers. to review and reflect MLL student’s data. For this project two individual members will be discussed using a pseudonym; Ashley Torres, the science academic dean, and Austin Smith, a 5 th grade English Language Arts teacher. During different times, Torres and Smith reviewed the Achievement First translated assessment policy for MLL students and the NYSED MLL translation policy, in addition to the assessment data. After reviewing the AF assessment policy Torres named that Achievement First translation policy does not have path on assessment accommodation for students with various language proficiencies, and testing accommodations should happen for over a year. Smith stated that there is a big gap in materials and assessment support that makes MLL student's learning experience very challenging. AF translated assessment policy should not be based on years enrolled in schools but based on their language proficiencies. Both Torres and Smith stated that the translation assessment policy is not equitable for MLL students. An intense English grammar course is not offered for students not to receive translated materials. Lastly, Tores and Smith shared that in order to properly support MLL students while taking assessments, their translated materials should be longer, and alternative scoring guidance depending on MLL proficiency level should be provided. In conclusion, collaboration must occur for MLL students to achieve both academically and in language proficiency. The current policy regarding MLL students does not give them the proper education they deserve. MLL students are given classwork translated into their native language and assessments with minimal translation depending on how many years they have

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 lived in the United States. In addition, do not receive an English new language class. The assessment policy does not benefit MLL students for leading for racial equity and striving for excellence, as not all MLLs are born outside of the United States. Working with network leaders, deans, teachers, students, and families can allow MLL students to receive the education they deserve despite their uniqueness and challenges. Case Law Analysis Gomez v. Illinois State Bd. Of Educ., 117 F.R.D. 394 In 1987, plaintiffs J. Gomez, M.Gomez, E. Carmona, A. Carmona, M. Huerta, J. Huerta, C. Calderon, and J. Escobedo filed a class action regarding violating the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. The plaintiffs claim that the defendants must apply “appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation by its students in its instructional programs.” Gomez v. Illinois State Bd. of Educ., 117 F.R.D. 394. During the trial, court officials stated that if the defendant did not take appropriate action, this could cause the plaintiffs not to receive an equal educational opportunity. The plaintiff's class action suit against the Illinois State Bd. Of Educ won and acknowledged that students who identify as multilingual learners should be granted the right to be assessed as limited English proficient. Gomez v. Illinois State Bd. of Educ., 117 F.R.D. 394. For students to receive the proper equitable education, schools must provide multilingual learners with the appropriate recess to receive assessment accommodations. These students have unique differences from their classmates. They are learning and acquiring the English language by learning content materials. Flores v. Arizona, 160 F. Supp 2d 1043 (D. Ariz. 2000)

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LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 The parents of children who attended Nogales Unified School District (NUSD) brought a lawsuit to the federal district courts in 1992. Parents believed their children’s education was inequitable and violated their civil rights. The defendants failed to provide students with an English new language program for multilingual learners to acquire the English language. Flores v. Arizona, 160 F. Supp. 2d 1043 (D. Ariz. 2000). In January of 2000, Senior District Judge Marquez and court officials named that the defendant failed to provide students with limited English proficiency with a program to increase their language acquisition. In addition, found that the English language program provided by the state was not funded properly and did not serve MLL students properly. Flores v. Arizona, 160 F. Supp. 2d 1043 (D. Ariz. 2000). Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974) The United States Supreme Court made a landmark decision in the Lau v. Nichols case, stating that Multilingual Learners have rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. In San Francisco, California, over 1,500 students who spoke Chinese were not receiving the proper language acquisition instruction. Denying them the opportunity to participate in an educational setting. The courts of appeal named that every student is unique, bringing advantages and disadvantages through cultural, academic, and religious beliefs. In the end, the court ruled that the MLL students' civil rights were violated when the school failed to provide these students with English language instruction. Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974). Castaneda v. Pickard, 648 F.2d 989 The plaintiffs filed against the Raymondville, Texas Independent School District. The Mexican-American native students and parents claimed that the school district was racially discriminating against the students in the classroom. Students were being segregated based on

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 their racial and ethnic background. Castaneda v. Pickard, 648 F.2d 989. In 1978 the district court ruled in favor of the defendants, claiming that the school district did not violate any constitutional rights. This was determined based on what the Raymondville school district was doing in it’s power to provide MLLs with the proper education by hiring and training staff to support these students. In addition, this case established a three-part assessment and criteria to help students with limited English proficiency. The three criteria are based on the following: when educating MLL students, it must be based on an educational theory, the proper recourses must be provided for students for it to be effectively implemented, and once the trial period is complete, an ovulation will occur to determine any gaps. Castaneda v. Pickard, 648 F.2d 989. Spokesperson Analysis Throughout my time at Achievement First Brownsville Middle School, I have constantly established a deep responsibility to promoting inclusivity and justifying the needs of multilingual learners and their families. My dedicated involvement in initiatives such as being a multilingual learner while younger and receiving a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language (TESOL), has supplied me with an all-inclusive understanding of the challenges that multilingual learners face. I have sincerely engaged with students and families from diverse backgrounds, creating a welcoming and positive environment. My ability to speak Arabic and Spanish allows me to build adequate communication, and my TESOL background allows me connections between cultural, academic, and linguistic gaps. This experience allows me to be a credible spokesperson who can advocate the needs of MLL students within the Brownsville Middle School community. In addition, my advocacy efforts broaden beyond intercommunication with these individuals. I have

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 collaborated with school administrators such as the Dean of Special Services to create professional developments for teachers to support multilingual learners. I believe in my various approach, bringing together my interactions, linguistic diversity, advocacy, commitment, establishing my appropriateness as a spokesperson and supporter for multilingual learners and their families at Achievement First Brownsville Middle School. I am enthusiastic to ascendancy this experience to contribute to commit to this experience to endow to advance to the success of the project and to increase the educational experience of the multilingual student body. Related Literature Analysis Multilingual learners are a unique group of students in the educational system. There are various subgroups to identify them due to their different strengths and adversities these students face. New York State recognizes a multilingual learner as a student developing language proficiency. Students who have entered the United States for less than a year are considered newcomer MLL students. In addition, students who are new to the states and have formal interrupted education, showing that they are two grades below in reading and mathematics in their native language, are considered students with interrupted formal education (SIFE). These students are entering schools in the United States with limited English proficiency and are required to receive an equitable education regardless of the language barrier. Achievement First charter schools in New York have seen more multilingual learners. Due to the high demand, many educators lack the resources to support these students properly. In addition, educators must ensure that all students take the assessments that the network provides. In New York, charter schools do not need to follow all the rules and regulations that public

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LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 schools follow in regards for multilingual learners. For example, charter schools must adhere to the multilingual learner's identification and testing process. However, they do not need to follow the number of hours an ENL class should be given to multilingual learners based on their language proficiency. The New York City Department of Education has established an ENL program that requires certified teachers to teach intensive grammar for MLL students. Students at the entering level require a minimum of 360 minutes (about 6 hours) per week, while students at the expanding (advanced) level are required to have 1 unit of study at a minimum of 180 minutes (about 3 hours) per week [ CITATION New2314 \l 1033 ]. The NYC Department of Education provides an outline and requirements to ensure MLLs receive additional language acquisition and content support. New York City charter schools must offer MLLs research-based materials that allow students to increase their language acquisition and acquire grade-level academic materials. In addition, “charter schools aim to ensure that all students’ needs are met by offering smaller class sizes, co-teaching, more time for reading and math, and a “full inclusion” setting” [ CITATION New221 \l 1033 ]. NYC charter schools aim to ensure that MLL students receive an equitable education but lack the English new language program that MLLs need to close the language acquisition and academic achievement gap. With the intense grammar lessons in an ENL program MLLs are not receiving an equitable education. Research has shown that MLLs in public charter schools have been underrepresented through the years; this gap is due to MLL families not applying their child/ren to charter schools while in gateway grades [ CITATION Mar14 \l 1033 ]. The lack of representation of MLLs has been growing in New York City. The NYC DOE and various public charter schools have accepted and enrolled students classified as MLLs. Since the 2017-2018 school year, NYC

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 charter schools have seen an increase of 39% of MLL students. MLLs enrolled in NYC public charter schools encompass 9.6%, while MLLs in NYC DOE comprise 14.8% [ CITATION New2315 \l 1033 ]. There is a significant difference in the number of MLLs enrolled in NYC public charter schools and the NYC DOE. Due to the gap in a significant increase in MLLs, members have advocated for a response to the underperformance of MLLs. The response included increasing teachers’ professional development and increasing access to educational materials [ CITATION Buc11 \l 1033 ]. In addition, school data has shown that students with limited English proficiency and academic achievement have been an issue to policymakers and educators. MLLs educational outcomes are compared to students who are native English speakers [ CITATION Buc11 \l 1033 ]. For example, based on New York State ELA and Mathematics state assessments, current MLLs in grades 3-8 had a 21.5% proficiency in math and an 11.1% proficiency in ELA. While non MLLs had a 53.5 % proficiency rate in math and a 55.9 proficiency rate in ELA. In addition, the proficiency rate for former MLLs was higher than MLLs and nonMLLs, math resulted in 69.5 % and ELA had a proficiency rate of 69.3%. [ CITATION NYC231 \l 1033 ]. The data provided by the NYC Public Schools shows a significant gap between MLLs and nonMLLs proficiency rates in ELA and math state tests. Students who have been identified as former MLLs have shown an increase in data, leaving hope for current MLLs to academically achieve and increase their language proficiency. Case Law Review Gomez v. Illinois State Bd. Of Educ, Flores v. Arizona, Lau v. Nichols, and Castaneda v. Pickard, are four cases that have been involved throughout the past forty-nine years to ensure

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 multilingual learners have an equitable education. The Gomez v. Illinois State Bd. Of Educ.1987 case occurred due to multiple students advocating that their rights were violated concerning the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. The plaintiffs won the case, and court officials acknowledge that MLLs will receive the appropriate assessment accommodations. The Flores v. Arizona 2000 case was like Gomez v. Illinois State Bd, of Educ., in which students in the Nogales Unified School District education was inequitable. The senior district judge said the defendant did not provide multilingual learners with the proper materials to increase language acquisition in English. Lau v. Nichols 1974 occurred when a group of Chinese-speaking families in San Francisco, California, realized their children were not receiving the proper resources to increase their language acquisition. This case was one of the first federal court cases recognizing multilingual learners and their rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Court officials ruled that the MLL’s civil rights were violated due to not supporting MLLs properly in English acquisition. Castaneda v. Pickard occurred in 1987, when a case was filed against the Raymondville, Texas Independent School District, regarding the discrimination of Mexican American native students in the classroom. These students were being segregated due to their uniqueness of being multilingual. The case was ruled in favor of the defendants, claiming they are doing everything they can to support MLLs. In addition, court officials created a three-part evaluation to help MLLs. MLLs are a unique group of students who require and deserve to have an equitable education. The four case laws listed above occurred in various parts of the United States, where plaintiffs of each case advocated and fought for an equitable education and the violation of MLLs civil rights. These cases show that throughout the United States, there have been hundreds

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LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 of MLLs students from various cultural and language backgrounds have not received an equitable education throughout the past forty-nine years. Three cases ruled in the plaintiff's favor that MLLs were not receiving a fair education. Lau v. Nichols is a famous case for referencing multilingual learners; it paved the way for MLLs to be acknowledged and have the same civil rights as nonMLLs at school. This case was able to contribute to the development of services and programs to ensure that MLLs are being supported in language acquisition and academic success. Although the Castaneda v. Pickard did not rule in the plaintiff's favor, court officials did include a plan to better support students with limited English proficiency. In conclusion, the court cases discussed in this project play a crucial role in implementing the rights and educational probability of MLLs. Influencing policies and practices that address MLLs uniqueness and promoting equity for these students. If any of these cases did not occur, there would be limited accountability to ensure that MLLs receive the proper education to increase language acquisition without being excluded from their classmates.

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 References Achievement First. (2023). Our Values . Retrieved from Achievement First. https://www.achievementfirst.org/how-we-work/our-values/ Alrubail, R. (2016, July 7). Equity for English-Language Learners . Retrieved from Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/equity-for-english-language-learners-rusul-alrubail Buckley, J., & Sattin-Bajaj, C. (2011). Are ELL students underrepresented in charter schools? Demographic trends in New York city, 2006-2008. Journal of School Choice . Castaneda v. Pickard, 648 F.2d 989 Essex, N. (2016). School law and the public school A practical guide for educational leaders (6 th ed.). Pearson Publishing. Flores v. Arizona, 160 F. Supp. 2d 1043 (D. Ariz. 2000). Gomez v. Illinois State Bd. of Educ., 117 F.R.D. 394. Herrera, L. J. (2022). Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education in Primary and Secondary Classrooms in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and the UK. In L. J. Herrera, English and students with limited or interrupted formal education: global perspectives on teacher preparation and classroom practices. Springer. Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974) New York State Education Department. (2023). English Language Learner and Multilingual Learner assessment & Testing Accommodations . Retrieved from New York State Education Department: https://www.nysed.gov/bilingual-ed/english-language-learner- and-multilingual-learner-assessment-testing-accommodations

LEGAL ENTANGLEMENT PART 4 NYC Public Schools. (2023, October). 2023 Math and ELA results . Retrieved from InfoHub: https://infohub.nyced.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2023-math-ela--- website.pdf Winters, M. A. (2014). Why the Gap? English language learners and New York city charter schools . Retrieved from Manhatan Institude: https://manhattan.institute/article/why-the- gap-english-language-learners-and-new-york-city-charter-schools New York State Education Department. (2023). English language learner and multilingual learner assessment & testing accommodations . Retrieved from New York State Education Department: https://www.nysed.gov/bilingual-ed/english-language-learner- and-multilingual-learner-assessment-testing-accommodations Works Cited

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