A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: the case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England

This paper combines tools from policy sociology with those from Critical Race Theory (CRT) to build a framework for a CRT-based education policy analysis, based on a set of questions about the relationship between policy and racial inequalities. Drawing on a case study of assessment policy in England, the paper examines how tools from both bodies of scholarship can be used to interrogate the motivations, results, and assumptions implicit in policy. The policy used as an illustration is the introduction of Baseline Assessment, which was conducted in the first weeks of school at age four/five for the purposes of measuring progress seven years later. This policy failed to take into account the needs of bilingual learners (or children with English as an additional language in UK terminology). It is argued that this absence provides an example of how policy can serve to continue white dominance while appearing neutral and meritocratic.