Visibility for Indigenous Students and Their Languages: Analysis of Home Language Data in Federal Reports across Seven U.S. States

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Congratulations to the authors for a groundbreaking research on language policies in the United States education system and its implication for cultural diversity and the schooling experience of students from Mesoamerican back ground. The authors have demonstrated with evidence that the current framework for identification and reporting  of languages does not take into consideration the diversity and benefits of the languages spoken by students. The focus is on accountability towards English Learner's achievement. I like the fact that the author's have conducted a thorough analysis of these policies across several states. The case for culturally responsive teaching is clearly evident in this research. The other strength of this article is the proposal of an alternative model of policy approach which is multilingual and therefore sensitive to the diversity of languages spoken at home. The alternative approach ensures that policymakers and educators take into account the linguistic diversity of Mesoamerican languages by ensuring that planning, monitoring and assessments of English language learning is cognisant of indigenous languages.

Things to check:

In-text referencing please be consistent, for example sentence 268 and sentence 278.

Sentence 269 please cross out ' and lists language.'

Also sentences 294 to 296 please be consistent with the use of a semicolon to separate authors.

Final remarks

A statement about the limitations of the research. This is a very valuable research with useful ideas from transforming policies towards equitable educational outcomes for students of Mesoamerican students plus as the authors have pointed out the proposed model could be applied to other minority groups.

Author Response

To whom it may concern,

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to you and the reviewers for the time and effort invested in reviewing our manuscript titled Visibility for Indigenous Students and Their Languages: Analysis of Home Language Data in Federal Reports Across Seven U.S. States. We have carefully considered all feedback and have made the necessary revisions to improve our paper. All changes were made with the "track changes" feature enabled for your convenience. Below, we detail the modifications made in response to the reviewers' comments.

Reviewer 1

In-text Referencing Consistency

We have revised the paper with all the suggested technical edits to maintain consistency with our in-text citations (e.g. semicolon usage) and for improving readability (e.g. removing the extra “and lists language”). A statement regarding the limitations of the current research in the field has been added to the Discussion section.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is interesting and valuable. It is essential to emphasize the issues' significance, particularly for educational practice and policy. The authors have tackled subjects that have remained on the periphery of previously conducted research. The research findings presented in the article may particularly interest practitioners—teachers and those responsible for shaping educational policy. They may also inspire further studies and research on working methods with students classified as English Learners (ELs).

It is worth highlighting the cognitive merits of this text. Therefore, the potential audience is broader than the narrow circle of experts in this field.

I have only minor suggestions regarding the methodological layer of the research project. The authors need to place more emphasis on justifying the methodological choices made. This suggestion is mainly related to clearly defining the adopted research strategy. It is likely a collective case study. It would be beneficial: a) to specify what constituted the case in this context b) What were its boundaries? c) what sample selection methods were applied, and d) what specific solutions were adopted during the analysis of the collected data (which data analysis methods were chosen and why)?

Overall, I highly value the article and believe it has the potential to make a significant contribution to the field. I strongly recommend its publication after the suggested minor revisions are made.

Author Response

To whom it may concern,

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to you and the reviewers for the time and effort invested in reviewing our manuscript titled Visibility for Indigenous Students and Their Languages: Analysis of Home Language Data in Federal Reports Across Seven U.S. States. We have carefully considered all feedback and have made the necessary revisions to improve our paper. All changes were made with the "track changes" feature enabled for your convenience. Below, we detail the modifications made in response to the reviewers' comments.

Reviewer 2

In the Materials and Methods section, we added text justifying our methodological choices by clearly defining our adopted research strategy. Specifically, the specification of the case, the boundaries were more clearly outlined, an explanation of the sample selection methods, and data analysis methods.

These changes were made to ensure the manuscript meets the high standards of the Social Sciences journal and addresses all the concerns raised by the reviewers. We deeply appreciate the valuable feedback provided by the reviewers, which has enhanced the quality of our work. We are confident that the revised manuscript meets the required standards and provides a comprehensive overview of our research findings.

Thank you once again for your consideration and the opportunity to improve our manuscript. We look forward to your favorable response.