How Harmful Is Segregation? English Learners’ Conditions For Learning In Segregated Classrooms

This ethnographic study compares the educational experiences of Bangla-speaking and Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) served by officially identical bilingual instructional models within one public middle school. Building on theories of policy implementation and a case within a case analysis, I ask: How do EL’s conditions for learning in segregated settings vary within schools? What varies the degree of harm or benefit entailed by linguistic segregation within schools? I argue that administrative choices related to program design and staffing, as well as the characteristics of the US-born population and the staff’s beliefs about culture, impacted Bangla- and Spanish-speaking ELs’ conditions for learning.