Written by Dr. Washington Collado
October 2026
Too often, educators allow poverty and concern for social-emotional well-being to become a reason for low expectations. This distinction between supporting and caring for students and expecting less from them is fundamental to educational equity. In schools serving economically disadvantaged communities, the challenge is not simply to support students but to ensure that support strengthens their opportunities to achieve academic excellence and opens the door for greater socioeconomic success.
Pedro Noguera (2019), in a provocative post on the Holdsworth Center’s blog, argues that school districts serving economically disadvantaged families make little progress when educators assume families don’t value education. Those same low expectations also affect many students classified as English Language Learners who suffer when educators confuse their emergent bilingualism with an inability to learn or to engage in higher-order thinking activities. The lesson that applies to poverty applies equally to these students.
A diverse high school in Florida made the courageous decision to revise arbitrary gatekeeping norms that kept many ESOL students out of Advanced Placement classes. Many of its Spanish-speaking ESOL students arrived as teenagers, which made reaching English proficiency before graduation difficult, and their ESOL coursework left little room for electives or extracurricular programs. School leaders opened AP Spanish to these students, both to strengthen their native language and to give them access to a rigorous, college-credit course. At the end of the first year, most scored a 4 or 5 on the AP Spanish Language exam. The following year, many went on to AP Spanish Literature and scored just as high. In the process, they strengthened their native language, earned college credit, and raised their weighted GPAs. Most importantly, they proved to themselves and to the school that they could succeed in high-rigor classes, a gain as much social-emotional as academic.
The challenge is for educators not to associate poverty with low expectations, but to focus on what they can control. I propose that we avoid the same error with English Speakers of Other Languages. Successful schools that create structures for students, without compromising rigor, establish a welcoming atmosphere where all students feel they belong.
Below are strategies that have proven effective for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds or who are emergent bilinguals.
- Conduct an equity assessment for learning tools, including access to technology, and provide what is needed where there are gaps.
- Establish strong collaborative teams at school and ensure that differentiation is an important part of the agenda.
- Implement a classroom structure that is conducive to strong tier-1 instruction and address students’ individual needs.
- Use various means of technology and artificial intelligence, including translation, as necessary for students to comprehend assignments and content.
- Include students in extracurricular activities such as sports, arts, and clubs. This practice gives students more opportunities to relate to one another and explore varying interests.
- Include students in high-rigor, high-interest classes with the appropriate support. Remove arbitrary prerequisites that create access barriers.
When schools establish clear processes to address all students’ needs and potential, they avoid the failed practice of arbitrary gatekeeping and expand the possibility of success. This is particularly true when collaborative learning teams or professional learning communities discuss the students’ academic needs, and teachers explore ways to differentiate instruction.
Schools that embrace the mindset that all students can succeed, and support educational equity, everyone benefits. They benefit from a climate of high expectations, academic rigor, and student well-being that should reinforce one another, not compete. The claim that these commitments to inclusion come at the cost of lowering academic standards is a false premise. These commitments should never become reasons to accept work that falls below established academic standards. Affirming students’ worth must go hand in hand with affirming their capacity to learn, grow, and achieve at high levels.
Citations
Noguera, Pedro (2019). Equity isn’t just a slogan: It should transform the way we educate kids. Insight. The Holdsworth Center. https:holdsworthcenter.org/blog/equity-isnt-just-a-slogan/
About the Author
Learn more about Dr. Collado HERE.