Research Fields:
Disability Studies in Education, Bilingual Special Education, Special Education, Bilingual Education, Sociolinguistics, Immigrant Issues
My line of inquiry explores the educational experiences of the children and families who live at the intersection of disability and multilingualism. My current research focus examines the exclusion of bilingual Latino children with disabilities from the inclusion and bilingual education movements within public education.
Research interests: Inclusion, Special Education, Bilingual Education, Translanguaging, Urban Education, Anti-racist and Anti-ableist Education, School-Family Relationships, Mothering/Motherhood, Immigrant issues, Latinx Racial formation in the U.S.
Population Focus: Latinxs, AfroLatinxs, emergent bilinguals labeled as disabled, children with disabilities, mothers, multiply marginalized communities
Primary Theoretical Stances: Critical Disability Raciolinguistic (CDR) Perspective, DisCrit, CRT, Raciolinguistics, Intersectionality, Unitary Translanguaging, Linguistic Human Rights
Population Focus: Latinxs, AfroLatinxs, emergent bilinguals labeled as disabled, children with disabilities, mothers, multiply marginalized communities
Primary Theoretical Stances: Critical Disability Raciolinguistic (CDR) Perspective, DisCrit, CRT, Raciolinguistics, Intersectionality, Unitary Translanguaging, Linguistic Human Rights
Current Projects
B is for Bilingual, Black or Broken: Erasure and pathologization through school-based ethnic, linguistic and disability classifications –Principal Investigator; Supported by the National Academy of Education and The Spencer Foundation, this project examines the racializing and pathologizing experiences of Black Latinx students who receive English language and special education services. Due to the continued use and perception of ?Latinx? as a monolithic identity, Black Latinx students are missing from data even as they are heavily impacted by racism and ableism. As such, we cannot fully account for the depth of inequity across schooling. This study will document the experiences of Black Latinx students who received English language and/or special education services, with the goal of introducing the particularities of these students? experiences to equity discourses. Using interviews and descriptive inquiry, I will gather data that represent the experiences of Black Latinx students to showcase how current practices obscure issues related to their segregation across programs designed to support marginalized or at-risk learners. By centering these students? experiences, this study has the potential to surface information that is critical to developing and applying policies focused on equity and inclusion as they relate to racialized learners who receive language and special education services. This will be the first major study of how educational labels are used to maintain hierarchies that privilege non-Black, English-dominant/bilingual, enabled students over Black, emergent bilingual students with disabilities. This project is ongoing.
Gentrification of Bilingual Education in NYC
–Researcher with Kate Menken at Queens College - CUNY & the Graduate Center- CUNY and Ivana Espinet, Kingsborough Community College - CUNY; Using Quantitative data, this study looks at the shifts in bilingual education programing in NYC schools. The aim of this study is to explore if program development is growing in the languages of the community or in prestigious languages. This study is also interested in exploring who has access to bilingual education programs versus transitional bilingual and English as a new language programs. This project is ongoing.
From Mother to Teacher: The experiences of Spanish-speaking mothers of English Language Learners with disabilities during Covid-19 related remote schooling –Principal Investigator; Using a qualitative design centering Spanish-speaking immigrant mothers of Emergent Bilinguals with Disabilities in NYC, this study aims to uncover how the shift to RS has exacerbated the racialized experiences and educational inequities that arise in placing Emergent Bilinguals with Disabilities in traditional monolingual-English settings, limited access to technology and school-home disconnects. The results can inform policymakers and school districts around the country on changes needed to effectively support these children and families. Data collection for this project concluded in November 2020. Data analysis is ongoing.
Descriptive Inquiry for/with Minoritized Students–Principal Investigator
Descriptive inquiry (DI) is a method of gathering student data through observation while diminishing judgment and highlighting student strengths through a collaborative process involving teachers and family members. This was a practice developed in rural Vermont in the 1960s and since then has been adopted within progressive schools (Carini, 2001; Himley & Carini, 2000; Himley, 2011). This mixed methods study aims to see if a process like descriptive inquiry can lead to academic growth and increased social-emotional support for culturally and/or linguistically diverse students who are English language learners (ELLs) and/or students with disabilities. Additionally, can descriptive inquiry be used as a part of a multi-tiered support system to help reduce the number of CLD students referred for special education evaluations. Finally, can the collaborative community developed through the descriptive inquiry processes help teachers feel more supported thus leading to increased teacher satisfaction and teacher retention. This is an ongoing project.
Gentrification of Bilingual Education in NYC
–Researcher with Kate Menken at Queens College - CUNY & the Graduate Center- CUNY and Ivana Espinet, Kingsborough Community College - CUNY; Using Quantitative data, this study looks at the shifts in bilingual education programing in NYC schools. The aim of this study is to explore if program development is growing in the languages of the community or in prestigious languages. This study is also interested in exploring who has access to bilingual education programs versus transitional bilingual and English as a new language programs. This project is ongoing.
From Mother to Teacher: The experiences of Spanish-speaking mothers of English Language Learners with disabilities during Covid-19 related remote schooling –Principal Investigator; Using a qualitative design centering Spanish-speaking immigrant mothers of Emergent Bilinguals with Disabilities in NYC, this study aims to uncover how the shift to RS has exacerbated the racialized experiences and educational inequities that arise in placing Emergent Bilinguals with Disabilities in traditional monolingual-English settings, limited access to technology and school-home disconnects. The results can inform policymakers and school districts around the country on changes needed to effectively support these children and families. Data collection for this project concluded in November 2020. Data analysis is ongoing.
Descriptive Inquiry for/with Minoritized Students–Principal Investigator
Descriptive inquiry (DI) is a method of gathering student data through observation while diminishing judgment and highlighting student strengths through a collaborative process involving teachers and family members. This was a practice developed in rural Vermont in the 1960s and since then has been adopted within progressive schools (Carini, 2001; Himley & Carini, 2000; Himley, 2011). This mixed methods study aims to see if a process like descriptive inquiry can lead to academic growth and increased social-emotional support for culturally and/or linguistically diverse students who are English language learners (ELLs) and/or students with disabilities. Additionally, can descriptive inquiry be used as a part of a multi-tiered support system to help reduce the number of CLD students referred for special education evaluations. Finally, can the collaborative community developed through the descriptive inquiry processes help teachers feel more supported thus leading to increased teacher satisfaction and teacher retention. This is an ongoing project.
Past Projects
Northwell / Shanti Bhavan Consultancy; Researcher
In collaboration with, and at the request of, the Shanti Bhavan Children's' Project, which runs a private boarding school for children who are part of the "untouchable" caste in Karnataka, Northwell Health was invited to contribute to a rural health initiative which would identify and meet the health care and public health needs of the 7-10 surrounding villages from which Shanti Bhavan draws its student population. As the only educator on the Northwell team, my role is two-fold: 1. to share best practices needed to support the academic and social-emotional development of students who have endured trauma (personal or relational) and 2. provide pedagogical support on how to advance emergent bilingual student's English literacy. This project is ongoing.
In collaboration with, and at the request of, the Shanti Bhavan Children's' Project, which runs a private boarding school for children who are part of the "untouchable" caste in Karnataka, Northwell Health was invited to contribute to a rural health initiative which would identify and meet the health care and public health needs of the 7-10 surrounding villages from which Shanti Bhavan draws its student population. As the only educator on the Northwell team, my role is two-fold: 1. to share best practices needed to support the academic and social-emotional development of students who have endured trauma (personal or relational) and 2. provide pedagogical support on how to advance emergent bilingual student's English literacy. This project is ongoing.