Degree Date

1-2026

Document Type

Dissertation - NLU Access

Degree Name

Ed.D. Doctor of Education

Academic Discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Terry Joe Smith

Second Advisor

Ruth E. Quiroa

Third Advisor

Blanca Gamez-Djokic

Abstract

Despite the documented benefits of Two-Way Immersion (TWI) programs, bilingual Latino students with exceptionalities continue to experience disrupted biliteracy development. One underexamined practice contributing to this disruption is the selection of the language of instruction during Individualized Education Program (IEP) development. Grounded in a Latino/a Disability Critical Race Theory (LatDisCrit) framework, this qualitative narrative inquiry examines the perceived influence of language selection in IEP development on biliteracy for bilingual Latino students with exceptionalities who participated in K–5 Two-Way Immersion programs. Drawing on testimonios from multiple stakeholder groups—including alumni, family members, educators, and administrators—this study centers lived experience to understand how instructional language decisions shaped access to learning, identity, and long-term biliteracy trajectories. Findings reveal that language-of-instruction decisions were often inconsistent, poorly communicated, and guided by deficit-based assumptions about bilingualism and disability, resulting in fragmented biliteracy development and enduring impacts on academic confidence and belonging. At the same time, participants’ accounts illuminate acts of resilience and resistance, conceptualized in this study as Resilenguantes, through which individuals and families navigated, contested, and reimagined linguistic pathways within inequitable systems. Through a LatDisCrit lens, these findings call for intentional, linguistically responsive IEP decision-making that treats bilingualism as an instructional foundation and advances linguistic justice for students with exceptionalities.

Comments

This dissertation is dedicated to all immigrants, including our participants’ families, who come in search of a better life for those they love. Their sacrifices and perseverance shape generations of learners and, in turn, our nation itself.

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Available for download on Wednesday, April 25, 2029

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