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With the 2015 passage of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA), the oversight of language policy in U.S. schools shifted from federal to state governance. Although the education of students officially designated as English learners (ELs) has historically been grounded in federal law, we argue that ELs' educational experiences are also largely influenced by societal attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. Using a critical policy analysis (CPA) approach, we examine how 12 states' immigrant policy contexts are associated with the EL educational policies articulated in their ESSA implementation plans. We find that states' demographic and immigrant policy contexts combine to produce four distinct approaches toward EL education, from departing to approaching equity.

Maria was a fifth grade student when the authors met her in a study of immigrant child-language brokers. Her family immigrated from a farming community in Mexico to a Chicago suburb where there were limited bilingual resources. Maria's mother did not speak fluent English, and Maria's teachers did not speak Spanish, so Maria often served as a translator during parent-teacher conferences. How did Maria navigate her role in an event often considered the cornerstone of home-school communication (Hanhan, 1998)? In this article, the authors share what they learned from their longitudinal research, which is reported in more detail in previous studies (see Garcia-Sanchez & Orellana, 2006; Orellana, 2009). They hope these recommendations will help teachers understand the complexities of translation, and how to facilitate parent-teacher conferences when their students serve as translators. (Contains 1 footnote.)