View Content #20798

From http://www.edcentral.org/dllcrawlwalk/

The Federal and State Dynamics Shaping Dual Language Learner Debates
by Conor Williams
February 1, 2016

Education policy is getting even less attention than usual this election season. Other than some token nods to early education investments and doing something (usually vaguely-described) about student loan debt, 2016 looks to be a dormant year for education politics.

This is particularly true as far as dual language learners (DLLs) are concerned. While the number of multilingual children in U.S. schools is rapidly increasing, these students are not getting correspondingly increased levels of attention in education policy and politics. Even though one in four American children speaks a non-English language at home.

…But this edu-political quietude — on DLL policies and beyond — is also just the darkness that follows No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB) December sunset. NCLB’s replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reduces 2016 candidates’ need (and incentive) to take strong positions in thorny debates over federal accountability, teacher evaluations, and so forth.

Read the full article at http://www.edcentral.org/dllcrawlwalk/