A CRITICAL RACE THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON ENGLISH LEARNERS’ EXPERIENCES IN CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION: ACCESS, EQUITY, AND OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN

Abstract

As contemporary federal education legislation requires schools to ensure that all students are prepared for college and careers upon graduation, the college and career readiness of ELs is an urgent matter requiring investigation. Within this policy context, career and technical education (CTE) has been presented as a potential pathway for ELs to achieve college and career readiness. This necessitates research examining ELs’ opportunities to participate in CTE programs as an alternative to traditional secondary schools. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is (a) to examine the processes required to access CTE programs and the barriers ELs face when attempting to enroll in CTE, (b) to understand how institutional culture and the distribution of resources support ELs and instructors with ELs in their courses, and (c) to investigate ELs’ classroom experiences and opportunities to learn, as understood by the students, teachers, and administrators in a school dedicated to CTE programming. Drawing on ethnographic methodology, data were collected through fieldwork and classroom observations documented as fieldnotes; 36 in-depth interviews with teachers, administrators, ELs and former ELs; artifacts from classrooms; policy documents; student academic records; and state-level data from the Department of Education. The data analysis demonstrated that, overall, ELs did not experience equitable access to educational experiences leading to college and career readiness. First, ELs’ access to CTE programs that aligned with their career aspirations was restricted; administrators and counselors justified this practice through discourses of meritocracy and deficit framing of ELs. Second, despite the fact that ELs and instructors complained about the lack of support and resources, administrators drew upon race- and language-neutral ideologies to rationalize their failure to invest in programs and practices that would ensure equitable access and success for ELs. Finally, within this context of limited support, instructors expressed deficit views of ELs and relied on pedagogies that did not accommodate the linguistic needs of ELs. As a result, ELs believed that they did not receive adequate support, and many felt unprepared for college and careers. Interpreting these data from a critical race theory perspective, these findings suggest that CTE functions as a White educational space, operating under tacit White supremacist ideologies to justify inequitable treatment of ELs and privilege the cultural and linguistic practices of White students. This undermines CTE’s potential in providing equitable access to college and career readiness for ELs.