TY  - RPRT
TI  - Defaults, Discretion, and Local Capacity: District Leaders’ Accounts of Automatic English Learner Reclassification
AU  - Bartlett, Caroline
AU  - Mavrogordato, Madeline
AU  - Kooyman, Erek
PY  - 2026
T3  - EdWorkingPaper
M1  - 26-1605
PB  - Annenberg Institute at Brown University
DO  - 10.26300/j4ky-ng56
UR  - https://edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1605
AB  - Automatic policies, which produce a preferred outcome unless implementers act otherwise, are rare in K-12 education and have been studied almost entirely using quantitative methods. In 2019, Michigan replaced its district-led procedure for reclassifying students out of English learner (EL) status with an automatic, state-led one. Drawing on interviews with 17 district EL leaders across 14 districts and a statewide survey of 215 EL leaders, we examine how implementers experienced this shift. Leaders overwhelmingly welcomed it and attributed its positive effects to reduced administrative burden, reduced reliance on local capacity, the resolution of procedural failures, and the deemphasis of subjective input. They were divided on the policy’s override provision, and several were unaware it existed.
ER  -