Culturally sustaining postsecondary transition planning: secondary teachers’ support for students receiving special education and English language services

Postsecondary transition planning requires a coordinated set of activities across home, school, and work contexts conducted in collaboration with students, families, educators, and other service providers. For students who receive both special education and English learner services, transition planning also includes consideration of students’ language identities, dual language learning, individual and family immigration histories, and dual educational programming. Educators’ understanding of these complex and intersecting identities as students navigate the paths leading from high school into adulthood is essential. To explore this, we analysed interviews with eight secondary educators to better understand their approaches to and perspectives on transition for students receiving special education and English language services. We identified examples of practices that spanned a continuum of culturally evasive, responsive, and sustaining. We share evidence of each and discuss implications for researchers and practitioners to support moving towards more culturally sustaining transitions for all students.