English Language Learners in the Southeastern United States

Book excerpt: This book examines the impact of and response to the rapidly growing English language learner (ELL) populations in the southeastern United States on K-16 schooling. Using examples of policy and practice from seven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee), the book explores how the contemporary context of accountability regimes and neoliberal tenets affect educational responses to the increased linguistic and cultural diversity in schools and how these realities may be different from when traditional states (such as California or Florida) were developing their responses to (im)migration. The collection of chapters addresses key questions of teacher preparation, effective infrastructures, and frameworks for serving ELLs, dual language bilingual education, and advocacy efforts at the state, district, and local level in the Southeast. The authors describe promising practices in each state, but also note the need for more systemic, statewide approaches that resist the enduring monolingual discourse that has historically characterized much of ELL schooling. They call for transformative policies and practices that take current research into account and that stress the centrality of pluralistic principles to design effective schools for ELLs.