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Interviews with EL leaders from 25 state departments show that limited legal knowledge and weak engagement constrain equity-expansive implementation. Where leaders had deeper knowledge and stronger engagement, federal policy was interpreted more actively, especially to increase access for Indigenous EL-classified students to heritage language and culturally sustaining programs.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/we-still-have-a-long-way-to-go-how-state-education-leadersunderstanding-and-engagement-shapes-english-learner-identification-of-indigenous-students/590214/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/we-still-have-a-long-way-to-go-how-state-education-leadersunderstanding-and-engagement-shapes-english-learner-identification-of-indigenous-students/590214.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Adam","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the article’s main focus regarding Indigenous EL identification?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It focuses on how state education leaders’ understanding and engagement shape the interpretation and implementation of the differentiated federal EL definition for Indigenous students.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How did the researchers gather evidence?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"They interviewed EL leaders from 25 state departments of education to assess their understanding of the differentiated definition and their work interpreting and implementing it.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What differences did the study find between states with deeper knowledge and weaker engagement?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"States with deeper knowledge and engagement more actively interpreted and implemented federal law, aiming to increase access for Indigenous EL-classified students to heritage language and culturally sustaining programs.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590214,1792164972,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":56,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},1374404737137,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","AERA Open  \nJanuary-December 2024, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–19 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584241263849  \nArticle reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2024. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero)  \n“We Still Have a Long Way to Go”: How State Education Leaders’Understanding and Engagement Shapes English Learner Identification  \nof Indigenous Students  \nIlana M. Umansky  \nTaiyo Itoh  \nUniversity of Oregon  \nFederal law defines English learner (EL) eligibility differently for Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous, students, allowing for broader entry into the EL category, along with its accompanying resources and services. We interviewed EL leaders from 25 state departments of education to learn about their level of understanding of the differentiated definition and their work to interpret and implement it. Drawing upon and expanding recent conceptual frameworks, we explored how EL leaders’knowledge about and engagement with EL constituents influence their ability to interpret and implement policy in equityexpansive ways. We found that many EL leaders had little understanding of the federal law and weak engagement with Indigenous Tribes and communities, both of which limited their work. In states where leaders had deeper knowledge and engagement, they were more actively interpreting and implementing federal law, particularly with the aim of increasing Indigenous EL-classified students’access to heritage language and culturally-sustaining programs.  \nKeywords: English learner policy, state education leadership, Indigenous students, English learner identification  \nThe education of Indigenous 1 students is a shared responsibility of Tribes, the federal government, and state governments; and Indigenous students from federally recognized Tribes maintain special status due to their unique treatybased legal standing (Reinhardt et al., 2020) . One area in which Indigenous students are uniquely identified in federal law is Title III of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015): “Language instruction for English learners and immigrant students.” Specifically, while non-Indigenous students must have a primary language other than English in order tobe identified and served as an English learner2 (EL) in school, Indigenous students must only have exposure to anon-English language that influences their English language development. This differentiated definition, advocated for by Indigenous leaders, responds to the pattern of forced linguistic and cultural imposition among Indigenous students in the United States that has resulted in widespread loss of  \nIndigenous language use (Sims & Blum Martínez, 2023) .  \nThe federal EL definition for Indigenous students allows for broader eligibility compared to non-Indigenous students. In theory, broader EL identification enables more students to access financial and educational resources linked to EL classification. Yet only four—Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin—of the 50 U.S. states have policies in place that allow for the implementation of a differentiated EL identification process among Indigenous students  \n(Umansky et al., 2022) . As a result, states are likely out of compliance with federal law, and many potentially eligible Indigenous students may not receive EL resources. A compounding issue relates to whether EL services, which center on English language development (ESSA, 2015), are fundamentally at odds with the educational interests of sovereign Tribes and individual Indigenous students and families, who, by and large, speak English as their sole or dominant language (Rampey et al., 2021) . EL services may perpetuate linguistic assimilation and undermine Indigenous efforts toward language revitalization (McCarty et al., 2021;  \nNational Indian Education Association [NIEA], 2020) .  \nWith the majority of states’ education policies not accounti","cbCaiuMya52l3VMZ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuMya52l3VMZ","pdf",494790,"English","# Introduction\n## Federal EL eligibility for Indigenous students under ESSA\n# Study Purpose and Context\n## Role of state education agencies and EL leaders\n# Findings and Implications\n## Knowledge, engagement, and equity-expansive implementation","[{\"question\":\"What is the article’s main focus regarding Indigenous EL identification?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on how state education leaders’ understanding and engagement shape the interpretation and implementation of the differentiated federal EL definition for Indigenous students.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the researchers gather evidence?\",\"answer\":\"They interviewed EL leaders from 25 state departments of education to assess their understanding of the differentiated definition and their work interpreting and implementing it.\"},{\"question\":\"What differences did the study find between states with deeper knowledge and weaker engagement?\",\"answer\":\"States with deeper knowledge and engagement more actively interpreted and implemented federal law, aiming to increase access for Indigenous EL-classified students to heritage language and culturally sustaining programs.\"}]","“We Still Have a Long Way to Go”: How State Education Leaders’Understanding and Engagement Shapes English Learner Identification of Indigenous Students | PDF",1792069088,48]