English Learners’ Access to Postsecondary Education

Kanno provides a complex and nuanced analysis of individual and institutional forces that restrict post-secondary access for multilingual students. Guided by a comprehensive understanding of relevant research and theory, her meticulous fieldwork helps to expose systemic inequities that make clear the need for immediate and sustained change in US secondary schools. * Amanda Kibler, Oregon State University, USA *
Kanno’s book provides a compelling indictment of how US secondary schools as institutions routinely fail to prepare English learners for college or jobs. Vivid descriptions of the setting, students, and educators humanize the findings and bring home the cost of school failures for youth. This is an important book for all scholars, policymakers, and educators working with emergent multilingual students at the high school level. * Linda Harklau, University of Georgia, USA *
In this powerful and beautifully-written book Kanno highlights the potential of schools and schooling to shape English learner (EL) students’ postsecondary access and provides a foundation upon which to move the field forward. School, district, and state-level EL educators will want to incorporate her findings into the policies and practices that shape their EL students’ postsecondary access. * Rebecca Callahan, University of Texas at Austin, USA *