1. 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, CA
UCSD & CSUSM Ed.D Candidate

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. Improved Instruction for English Learners
Areas of Research
Development
Professional
Improved Instruction for English Learners
Coaching
Teacher
Beliefs

5. Your English Learners What data do you collect regarding ELs?
How is the data used?
Who uses the data?
What additional data would you like to collect?
Who else could benefit from the data collected?

6. The achievement gap:
Latino students score well below their White peers on the NAEP reading and math assessments. For each age group, the average gap is more than 20 points in both reading and math.
NAEP is the National Assessment on Educational Progress, it is commonly referred to as the nation’s report card.

7. 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%.

8. 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. Retrieved, from

9. Long Term English Learners
Long-term ELs have become the largest EL student population in California.
LTEL schooling issues are very distinct from those of immigrant ELs.
After at least six years of schooling in the United States, these students have not demonstrated mastery of academic English.
As LTEL students become a growing majority in high school classrooms, their academic achievement continues to be of concern. In order to understand their learning environments, this proposed research aims to enhance the limited research concerning the expectations, attitudes and beliefs that are held by teachers of minority students
 The last part is difficult to understand.

10. 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)

11. 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.

12. Theoretical framework on PD and teacher change:
Guskey (1986) Model of Teacher Change
Which practices?
Measured by…?
Equity beliefs?
What kind?

13. What kind of PD? What kind of PD do your teachers of Els receive?
Skill based
Address practices
Reflective
Require active engagement
Foster team work
What issues are addressed – transactional ones or transformative ones?

14. Which Practices?
What do you know about the practices your teachers of ELs employ in their teaching?
How could you learn more?
Which practices would you encourage?
How?
Which practices would you discourage?
This is a great starting point in designing PD.

15. 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?

16. 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)
den Brok & Levy, (2005)

17. Teacher beliefs influence expectations which impact student achievement.
Professional development can address teacher awareness of beliefs, expectations and views.
Coaching can provide an effective approach to addressing teacher beliefs, expectations and views.

18. 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.

19. Learning Environments of Minority Students
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)

20. 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.

21. Theory Related Purposes
Building
Explication
Development
Theory explication: Lateral and deductive analytic process where an abstract concept in one study is filled out through synthesis of findings from other studies.
Theory building: Findings from diverse sources can be used to push the level of theory beyond the level possible using only one data from one sample.
Theory development: Synthesis of findings into a product that is thickly descriptive, and comprehensive and thus more complete than any of the constituent studies alone.
Schrieber et al p. 315 in Zimmer, L. (2006 p.313)

22. Qualitative Meta-Study
Application of meta-analysis methodology in the quantitative field is common, quantitative meta-analysis provides the field with an tool to generalize findings across quantitative studies.
What happens then when a field of research has generally focused on qualitative studies?
How can a researcher apply a meta-analytical approach to a research question that calls for meta-analysis of qualitative research?

23. 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),
The goals of qualitative meta-study are:
Theory development,
Higher level abstraction, and
Generalizability
Estabrooks et al. 1994, Jensen & Allen 1996, Sandelowki et al in Zimmer, L. (2006 p.313)

24. Rationale for this methodology:
Due to the breadth and scope provided by incorporating findings from many studies, meta-synthesis are potentially more reflective of a generalizable reality than those that single studies alone can provide.

25. Meta-Synthetic Model Paterson et al. (2001)
Step 1:
Laying the groundwork
Establish a research team
Determine the purpose of the study
Develop a research question
Select a theoretical framework
Step 2:
Retrieval and assessment
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Evaluation of quality of studies
Data management strategies
Step 3:
Meta-data analysis
Hermeneutic and dialectic approaches
System for grouping data
Method, Sample, Date of publication, Issues of the phenomenon of interest
Selection of data analysis method
Analytic steps
Step 4:
Meta-method
Comparison of research design
Methodological assumptions
Appraisal of themes and patterns
Step 5:
Meta-theory
Analysis of primary studies for the implications of their theoretical orientations
Future theory development
Step 6:
Meta-synthesis
Dynamic and iterative process of thinking, creating, theorizing and reflecting.
Purpose is to deconstruct current ideas about a phenomenon and come to a deeper “more socially responsible” theoretical understanding.

26. 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.

27. Theoretical framework on PD and teacher change:
Guskey (1986) Model of Teacher Change
Which practices?
Measured by…?
Equity beliefs?
What kind?

28. Theoretical framework on PD and teacher change:
Transformative teaching.
Guskey (1986) Model of Teacher Change
Professional development
Change in Classroom Practices
Change in student learning
Change in teachers’ attitudes and beliefs.
Reflective workshops with coaching.
Measured by quantitative and qualitative data.
High expectations, strength based beliefs and affirming attitudes

29. Returning to 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?
How can you in your role help build the needed bridges?

30. 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.

31. How EUHSD has done this:
Gathered and analyzed disaggregated data on our high stakes tests (California State Test) for each content area (Social Studies, Science, Math and Language Arts).
We found that on any given test only 3% of our Els had scored proficient or higher.
We also looked at our placement policies for EL students.
Workshops were designed to enhance Content Literacy for all science and social studies teachers.
The workshops are compulsory.
The workshops are not “sit and get” trainings.

32. How EUHSD has done this, cont.:
6. In each workshop we focus on how we can apply content literacy strategies to increase student achievement.
7. Admin teams received an overview of the workshops and participate in guided “walk-throughs” of classrooms of participating teachers to discuss implementation of the strategies and practices.
8. Reflective questions address “teaching practices”.
9. Teachers receive support on campus through the literacy coach and a team of teachers called the “Advanced SDAIE” team.
10. Advanced SDAIE teachers have received extensive training in SDAIE, present strategies at each monthly staff meeting, hold SDAIE lunches and facilitate SDAIE PLCs. As a group we meet 4 times a year and participate in book club blog. We are currently reading “Culturally Proficient Coaching”.
Our district had just finished a 3 year initiative know as PROMISE prior to the implementation of the workshops.

33. Reviewing the goals of this workshop:
Did we 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.

34. Questions and comments:
LuzElena Perez Literacy Specialist Escondido Union High School District Escondido, CA or