Non-college-bound English learners as the underserved third: How students graduate from high school without being college- or career-ready
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Date
DOI
Authors
Kanno, Yasuko
Version
Accepted manuscript
OA Version
Citation
Y Kanno. "Non-college-bound English learners as the underserved third: How students graduate from high school without being college- or career-ready." Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk,
Abstract
Not all high school students go to college. Yet, because there is currently such a dominant
emphasis on “college for all,” preparing non-college-bound students for career-readiness has
received short shrift. This issue is particularly important for English learners (ELs) because
close to half of high school ELs do not advance to postsecondary education. Through a
longitudinal ethnography of two underperforming, non-college-bound ELs, I examine how and
why a relatively well-resourced school allowed these students to graduate without college- and
career-readiness. I argue that although there were substantial structural inequalities that led to
the under-education of the two ELs, educators at the school were largely unaware of such
barriers and attributed the ELs’ underachievement to the students’ own deficits. I counter this
institutional deficit orientation with alternative stories of student assets that illuminate the
substantial strengths and talents that the focal ELs possessed, which, if recognized and integrated
into their education, could have led to career-readiness.