Building a Bridge Without a Toll Booth: Addressing the Professional Development Needs of Teachers of Long Term English Learners

Facilitator: LuzElena Perez, MPA Literacy Specialist, Escondido Union High School District, CAUCSD & CSUSM Ed.D Candidate

The bridge metaphor

• What does it mean to “build a bridge”?• What’s on either side of “the bridge”?• Who crosses “the bridge”? • What tools do “bridge makers” need?

Goals of this Workshop:

• To consider and discuss:– The professional development needs of teachers

of English Learners.– The research regarding expectations, beliefs and

attitudes that teachers hold of minority students.– The role that coaching can play in addressing the

needs of teachers of English Learners.– Explore the potential for meta-studies.– Learn about EUHSD’s journey.

Achievement Gap Dropout rates: Latino dropout rates are the highest of any major ethnic group in the United States.

Reason: low academic achievement. One-third of all Latino students perform below grade level, this increases their chances of dropping out from 50% to 98%.

Economic Impact of the Latino Achievement gap:

A recent study found that :• The achievement gap was the equivalent of a permanent national

recession.

• Had the achievement gap between black and Latino student performance and white student performance been closed the "Gross Domestic Product in 2008 would have been between $310 billion and $525 billion higher" (p.17).

• Health and civic engagement impacts of the achievement gap.

• The study concludes that "lagging achievement is a problem for poor and minority children and for the broad middle class" (p. 21).

McKinsey & Company (2009). The economic impact of the achievement gap in America's schools.

Nativity and generation for Limited English Proficient (LEP) adolescents

• The fact that over half (56 %) of LEP children in secondary schools are U.S.-born makes it clear that many children are not learning English even after seven or more years in school.

Source: U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 1 percent PUMS, 2000 as cited in Capps et al., (2005)

6th to 12th grade LEP

44%

27%29%

First gener-ation

Second generation

Third gen-eration

Deficit views could be part of the problem:• Research regarding teaching practices towards minority

students highlights the deficit views and low expectations held by many teachers of non-White students (den Brok & Levy, 2005; Fritzberg, 2001; Tenenbaum & Ruck, 2007).

• Deficit views have an adverse impact on the learning environments of minority students (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968).

• Most reform efforts, professional development initiatives, or accountability reports fail to focus on or consider the views teachers hold of their minority students as a factor.

Theoretical framework on PD and teacher change:

Professional Development

Change in Classroom Practices

Change in Student

Learning

Change in Teachers’

Attitudes and Beliefs

Guskey (1986) Model of Teacher Change

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Measuring student learning

• How do you measure EL student learning?

• How often is their learning measured?

• What feedback do students receive?

• How are Language Development standards incorporated in the assessment of language development and content learning?

den Brok & Levy, (2005)

Theoretical Framework:Ethnic backgrounds and student outcomes

Teacher ethnic background

Student ethnic backgrounds

Teacher behavior towards

individuals and class

Student perceptions of teacher behavior

(inc. knowledge, beliefs, etc.)

Student outcomes

(achievement and motivation)

Professional development can address teacher awareness of beliefs, expectations and views.

Teacher beliefs influence expectations which impact student achievement.

Coaching can provide an effective approach to addressing teacher beliefs, expectations and views.

Instructional Coaching

• Transfer of skills and theory to the classroom is less than 5% in traditional PD, it is over 80% with coaching. Coaching is a critical component in PD. Showers, Joyce, & Bennett, (1987); Garret et al. (2001); Mahn et al. (2005); Russo (2004)

• Coaching can improve student learning. (Greene, 2004)

• Just as teaching cannot occur in a context “free” of culture, neither does coaching. (Lindsey, D. 2010)

• Instructional coaching can and should address issues of beliefs, expectations and attitudes with teachers of Els.

Areas of Research: Learning Environments of Minority Students

Teachers’ beliefs, expectations and views of minority students:• den Brok & Levy, (2005); Fritzberg, (2001); • Rosenthal & Jacobson, (1968); Tenenbaum & Ruck,

(2007)

New teachers: • Ladson-Billings, (2000) • Schultz, Jones-Walker, and Chikkatur, (2008)• Haberman & Post, (1998)

How can we study teacher beliefs?

• Teacher beliefs have been studied in quantitative research projects and have yielded descriptive findings.

• Studies that seek to explain a phenomenon are generally qualitative studies with a grounded theory epistemology.

• In order to understand this phenomenon with the goal of theory building research that synthesizes various studies.

Theory Related

PurposesTheory Building

Theory Explication

Theory Development

Schrieber et al. 1997 p. 315 in Zimmer, L. (2006 p.313)

Goals of Qualitative Meta-Study

A meta-study is:

The synthesist’s interpretation of the interpretations of primary data by the original authors of the constituent studies.

Zimmer, L. (2006) Qualitative meta-synthesis: a question of dialoguing with text. Journal of Advanced Nursing 53 (3), 311-318.

The goals of qualitative meta-study are:

Theory development,

Higher level abstraction, and

Generalizability

Estabrooks et al. 1994, Jensen & Allen 1996, Sandelowki et al. 1997 in Zimmer, L. (2006 p.313)

Potential of the meta-study• Application of a meta-synthesis will push this methodology

in educational research in general, specifically it will advance theory development regarding teacher beliefs of minority and language minority students.

• Theory regarding teacher beliefs can become instrumental in the design of PD.

• Theory regarding teacher beliefs can greatly benefit the work of instructional coaches.

Theoretical framework on PD and teacher change:Guskey (1986) Model of Teacher

Change

Reflective workshops with coaching.

Transformative teaching.

Measured by quantitative and qualitative data.

High expectations, strength based beliefs and affirming attitudes

Professional development

Change in Classroom Practices

Change in student learning

Change in teachers’ attitudes and

beliefs.

Suggested strategies:• Collect data that matters.• Design PD based on data.• Mandate PD to teachers of ELs.• PD must include reflective inquiry questions that

address beliefs, attitudes and expectations. • PD needs to be outcome driven = student

achievement.• Support teachers through coaching.• Coaches need to be trained in issues of cultural

proficiency.

Questions and comments:

LuzElena PerezLiteracy SpecialistEscondido Union High School DistrictEscondido, CAleperez@ucsd.edu orlperez@euhsd.k12.ca.us