| In 2004, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) took several steps toward compliance with Proposition 203, a law severely limiting access to bilingual education for English language learners (ELLs) and naming in its place, Structured/Sheltered English immersion as the primary means of educating ELLs. One piece of several changes included a new mandate that all certified educational personnel in the state complete mandatory SEI training, consisting of 15 seat hours by August 31, 2006 and an additional 45 hours by August 31, 2009. Any person or organization was eligible to submit a syllabus fulfilling these training requirements, resulting in an extensive range of sessions/courses, all deemed comparable by state standards.;The purpose of this research is present the range of SEI trainings across the state by illustrating the differences in perspectives from four organizations/institutions with very different (and often competing) overall goals: for-profit organizations; school districts; community colleges; universities. The three conceptual/theoretical models utilized were: (1) The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM); (2) The notion of majoritarian versus counter narratives ; (3) Interpretive Policy Analysis (IPA). Results were three distinct answers to the over-arching research question, which are at once conflicting and overlapping. Findings based on the CBAM Model demonstrate that this policy mandate is not functioning as a vehicle for promoting English-only ideology. The second theoretical frame demonstrated that this SEI training policy both is and is not functioning as a vehicle for promoting English-only ideology. Findings differed depending on the organization from which it is presented. Based on IPA, this SEI training policy does function as a vehicle for promoting English-only ideology because of the ADE's extreme oversight. Future research should further illustrate the extent to which teachers who have obtained SEI Endorsements have implemented the methods presented in training and how the use of this methodology is effecting the achievement of language minority students in mainstream settings. Additional research should also contribute to versions of·English-only policies that provide better transparency given their hegemonic, ideological and sociopolitical underpinnings. |
