Secondary Students Receiving Special Education and English Learner Services: Identity Informed Transitions

Abstract

Secondary students’ identity development is multidimensional, informed by distinct sociohistorical, cultural, structural, and individual forces and factors. For students who receive both special education and English learner services, identity development may also be connected to being categorized as needing both types of support services. Understanding how students receiving both services perceive themselves, and how they leverage identity while planning their futures could inform the field of transition, yet this is an infrequent subject of inquiry in special education transition research. We interviewed 26 students, all of whom received both services in a high school in a large school district in the northeastern United States. The development of language and learner dimensions of identity emerged from the data as a key factor informing participants’ perceptions and experiences as they prepared for the transition into adulthood. Implications and recommendations for researchers and practitioners supporting students’ language and learner dimensions of identity during postschool transition are shared.