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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.

The United States is facing a bilingual teacher shortage, a fact that is particularly troubling as the emergent bilingual population continues to grow nationwide. Prior research suggests that the shortage of bilingual teachers may affect the quality of instruction emergent bilinguals receive, yet little is known about the potential effects of this shortage on schools more broadly. In this article, we draw on the concept of teacher leadership to explore whether and how bilingual teachers contribute outside the classroom. Our mixed methods approach drew on surveys and interviews with elementary teachers in eight school districts across three states and identified the ways in which bilingual teachers acted as informal teacher-leaders who supported colleagues' professional development and parent engagement. Findings have important policy implications for policy in terms of supporting bilingual teachers' recruitment and retention, as well as for research on bilingual teacher leadership.

Drawing on institutional theory, this study describes how cognitive, normative, and regulative mechanisms shape bilingual teachers' language policy implementation in both English-only and bilingual contexts. Aligned with prior educational language policy research, findings indicate the important role that teachers' beliefs play in the policy implementation process. However, findings also reveal several other dimensions of the policymaking process that contribute to the coupling of language policy and classroom practice, including district-level policy, administrative oversight, and teacher training policies. This study thus offers an institutional view of language policy implementation that accounts for teachers' beliefs in a more nuanced and realistic way. Results from the study suggest the need to respond to both individual- and systems-level policy mechanisms--and the interplay between them--when designing school systems that address the educational needs of English language learners, whose presence is increasing in districts and schools across the United States.

This article examines the unique contributions that bilingual and bilingually credentialed teachers make to the instruction of emergent bilinguals in the United States. This mixed methodological study involved 474 teachers in Arizona, California, and Texas, which represent distinct language policy contexts. Results revealed that, irrespective of context, teachers' bilingualism and bilingual certification significantly predicted their reported use of practices that build on students' primary language as well as their prior knowledge and experiences. Given declining numbers of teachers completing bilingual credentials in English-only states, findings suggest that English-only policies are diminishing the supply of teachers with the potential to improve emergent bilinguals' classroom experiences.