S14/E3 Encore Episode: Collaborative support for English Learners with disabilities with Dr. Sara Kangas

An encore episode from season 9 of Highest Aspirations, where we discuss how schools are accommodating English learners with disabilities and the impacts that EL and disability status have on reclassification or exiting with Dr. Sara Kangas.

Key questions we address:

1. What impacts have we seen on recent policy changes to reclassification or exiting of ELs with disabilities?
2. How can schools prioritize collaboration and improve their current processes for determining reclassification for SPED ELs?
3. What strategies can we use to ensure that these students are integrated into general education classrooms without compromising on learning in a supportive, language rich environment?

For additional episode and community resources:

• Dual Language Development and Disorders book recommended by Dr. Kangas
• National Center for Systemic Improvement - Thought Leader Series

• Visit Dr. Sara Kangas’ website to learn more about her work
• For additional free resources geared toward supporting English learners, ⁠visit our blog 

Dr. Sara Kangas is an associate professor in the College of Education at Lehigh University. She is an applied linguist whose research focuses on the school-age population of multilingual learners (MLs) with disabilities. Using ethnography and interpretive policy analysis, Dr. Kangas investigates opportunity to learn for MLs with disabilities, with particular attention to the ways in which education policies, school structures, and ideologies affect their everyday learning experiences.

Dr. Kangas has published in top-tier journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, and TESOL Quarterly, among others. Her scholarship has received the James E. Alatis Prize (2018), TESOL Award for Distinguished Research (2015), and the Wilga Rivers Memorial Graduate Student Award (2015). Dr. Kangas earned her Ph.D. in Education with a concentration in applied linguistics at Temple University.