Scaffolded Dialogic Reading Professional Development for Transitional Kindergarten Teachers of Dual Language Learners

This article presents the results of a study examining a 6-month project funded by the U.S. Department of Education that focused on enhancing teacher learning and instructional practices in transitional kindergarten (TK) in a large urban California school district. The project integrated and adapted the Doing What Works (2012) dialogic reading practices1 into ongoing professional development for 28 TK teachers working in classrooms with high percentages of 4- and 5-year-old dual language learners (DLLs). We employed a quasi-experimental design that used a comparison group to examine how teaching practices changed both with and without the project’s coaching support. Data from classroom observations, teacher surveys, and coaching reflections indicate that implementation of scaffolded dialogic reading practices improved TK teachers’ knowledge and oral language instructional strategies for teaching DLLs

No. 13, January 2024: Bilingual Teacher Residencies in California: Findings and Recommendations for Policy and Practice

This research brief presents a study that explores one type of teacher residency program, bilingual teacher residencies (BTRs). The Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University (LMU CEEL) partnered with the Californians Dedication to Education Foundation (CDEF) to investigate BTRs participating in CDEF’s California Teacher Residency Lab (The Lab). To expand the knowledge base around bilingual teacher residencies and provide policy and practice recommendations, researchers conducted interviews with a sample of BTR grantee program leaders to capture and analyze their perspectives regarding BTRs based on their implementation phase and context. Four key findings emerged: (1) Bilingual Teacher Residencies are building on community cultural and linguistic wealth; (2) Bilingual Teacher Residencies focus on critical consciousness and culturally responsive and sustaining teaching; (3) Strong district-university partnerships facilitated collaborative program design and problem solving; and (4) Candidates in BTRs face greater financial barriers to becoming teachers than other teacher residency candidates. Based upon the findings, the authors propose three recommendations for policy and practice to ensure California’s BTRs can serve as a vehicle for addressing bilingual teacher shortages at the state and local levels: (1) Ensure systemic coherence and information sharing across agencies and efforts; (2) Build on the efforts of the California Teacher Residency Lab (The Lab) as well as the newly formed State Regional Technical Assistance Center (SRTAC) to provide differentiated, high-quality technical assistance/supports; and (3) Ensure sustainability of BTRs into the future through funding and knowledge building.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_education_policybriefs/1014/thumbnail.jp

The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL); A Tool for Supporting Teachers of English Language Learners

Schools and school systems are experiencing an instructional support gap that results in limited opportunities for educators to analyze, reflect on and improve research-based practices for ELLs so that outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse students can change. To address this need, an inter-disciplinary research team from the Center for Equity for English Learners, comprised of educational leaders, teachers, researchers, and content experts developed a classroom observational instrument—the Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL). The OPAL is intended for teachers, educational leaders, coaches, and others to conduct focused classroom observations for three potential purposes: research/evaluation, professional development, and coaching. In this article the authors introduce the OPAL’s research base, describe how to use the OPAL tool, and provide examples of the applied use of the OPAL to support professional learning and evaluate a three-year school reform effort.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_journalarticles/1000/thumbnail.jp

An Exploratory Study of Bilingual Teacher Residencies in California.

This research brief presents a study that explores the underexamined area of bilingual teacher residencies (BTRs) in California. The authors build upon research on teacher residencies to better understand the perspectives of program leaders- those who implement BTRs in Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). The study describes the program leaders’ insights into the implementation of BTRs at various stages of development and implementation based on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s (CTC) funding phases from 2018 to 2023. Four findings are highlighted: 1) Forging New Relationships to Build on Community Cultural and Linguistic Wealth, 2) Designing Bilingual Teacher Residency District-University Partnerships and Programs, 3) The Burden of Support: Augmented Financial Barriers for Bilingual Teacher Residents and, 4) Bilingual Teacher Pedagogies: Critical Consciousness and Culturally Responsive Teaching. Based upon the findings, the research brief proposes three key recommendations for policy and practice to address the ongoing and projected California’s bilingual teacher shortages at the state and local levels: 1) Create Coherent and Articulated Cross-State Agency Efforts, 2) Differentiate Bilingual Networks of Support, and 3) Strengthen Bilingual Teacher Residency Communities of Practice.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_journalarticles/1013/thumbnail.jp

Using Urban Ecology as a Transdisciplinary Approach for Teaching English Learners

Teams from the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) and the Center for Urban Resilience (CURes) at Loyola Marymount University collaborated on multi-year projects to implement the Urban Ecology for English Learners Projects designed to implement a professional learning and curriculum model to explicitly engage students in experiences where they learn science content through investigations of their local schoolyards and neighborhoods while simultaneously advancing language and literacy skills. This partnership empowers educators to leverage the interdisciplinary science of urban ecology and resilience as a way to democratize access and opportunity for English Learner students in diverse urban settings

The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies: Conceptual Framework and Validation Report

The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL) conceptual framework and validation report describes the development of the OPAL instrument and the results of the validation study that confirms OPAL as a research-based tool to measure classroom practices for ELs. The OPAL development began in 2006 as a research-based behavioral observation tool that measures teacher practices and classroom interactions from a sociocultural language acquisition perspective. It utilizes a six-point Likert- scale (1-Low – 6-High) to rate instruction across four domains and 18 indicators: 1) Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum, 2) Connections, 3) Comprehensibility, and 4) Interactions. The instrument allows for anecdotal notes to be taken during the observations. This report is organized into two sections: 1) the conceptual framework–including the underlying sociocultural perspectives and effective teaching practices for ELs with the description of the four domains; and 2) the technical report describing the validation study–including phases of development, content validity, construct validity, and data analysis and results. Key highlights from this report position the OPAL as a valid and reliable measure of instructional practices that can support teachers of ELs in refining the content and language development of ELs given that the OPAL: standardizes the description of research-based practices for ELs has content validity for measuring the optimal classroom conditions that bolster EL’s academic achievement has construct validity for each of the four domains as measured by confirmatory factor analysis is proven to be a reliable tool as measured by the Cronbach’s Alpha The final chapter of the report provides recommendations for the OPAL for professional development and for examining teaching and learning for school reform and for conducting research that leads to improvement of EL outcomes. Further research to establish the predictive validity of the OPAL is also implied.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceelreports/1002/thumbnail.jp

Preventing Long-Term English Learners: Results from a Project-Based Differentiated ELD Intervention Program

In this article the authors describe efforts taken by a small southern California school district to develop and implement an innovative, research-based English Language Development program to address a growing concern over long-term English Learners (LTELs) in their district. With support from the Weingart Foundation this afterschool program served 3rd and 7th grade LTELs between 2008–2011 to accelerate language and literacy acquisition and prevent prolonged EL status. Program evaluation results indicated that the intervention was associated with improved English language proficiency as measured by the California English Language Development Test. Results also showed a heightened awareness of effective practices for LTELs among the district’s teachers and high levels of satisfaction among the participants’ parents. This intervention program has implications for classroom-based intervention including project-based learning for LTELs, for targeted professional development, and for further research for the prevention of LTEL status.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_journalarticles/1002/thumbnail.jp

No.7, March 2019: Bilingual Teacher Residency Programs in California: Considerations for Development and Expansion

Public interest, research and policies about dual language education and the multiple benefits of bilingualism and biliteracy have led to shortages of bilingual education teachers in the state and nation. School districts and educator preparation programs are actively looking for pathways of bilingual teacher preparation to meet local demands for more dual language programs. Modeled after medical residencies, teacher residencies are deeply rooted in clinical training, typically placing residents in classrooms with experienced teachers in high-needs schools where they are supported in their development. Teacher residencies allow for the recruitment of teachers, offer strong clinical preparation, connect new teachers to mentors and provide financial incentives to retain teachers in the school/district of residency. Little is known however, about bilingual teacher residencies in the state. Following a review of various data sources, researchers find that, to date, there are few bilingual teacher residencies offered and that there is a need to expand and study bilingual teacher residencies as one of the most viable pathways to respond to this shortage.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_education_policybriefs/1006/thumbnail.jp

Falling Short on The Promise to English Learners: A Report on Year One LCAPs

California’s Local Control Funding Formula was signed into law in California in 2013 and allowed districts the flexibility to meet their student needs in locally appropriate manners. One year after its implementation, a panel of 26 reviewers, including educators, English Learner (EL) advocates, and legal services staff reviewed the Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) to understand how districts employ this flexibility to address the needs of ELs. The report uses the English Learner Research-Aligned LCAP Rubrics with 10 focus areas, and reviews sample LCAPs from 29 districts, including districts with the highest numbers/percentages of English Learners in the state, districts representative of California’s geographic Regions, and districts providing quality EL services. The review centers around four questions of the extent to which first-year LCAPs: (1) specify goals and identify outcomes for ELs, (2) identify action steps and allocate funds for increased or improved services for all types of ELs, (3) reflect research-based practices for achieving language proficiency and academic achievement for English Learners in their actions, programs and services, and (4) are designed and implemented with EL parent input as reflected in stakeholder engagement. The results indicate that overall, the LCAP is inadequate as part of the state’s public accountability system in ensuring equity and access for ELs. Six key findings were: (1) difficulty in discerning funding allocations related to EL services and programs; (2) inability to identify districts’ plans for increased services for ELs; (3) lack of explicitly specified services and programs aligned to EL needs; (4) weak approach or missing English Language Development (ELD) or implementation of ELD standards in most LCAPs; (5) weak/inconsistent representation of EL parent engagement; and (6) lack of EL student outcome measures. The authors also present detailed findings for each focus topic and offer district and state level recommendations.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceelreports/1003/thumbnail.jp

No.1, December 2007: Parent Involvement and the Education of English Learners and Standard English Learners: Perspectives of LAUSD Parent Leader

This policy brief reports findings from a survey of parent leaders in 2007 that sought to understand what parents of English Learners and Standard English Learners think about the education of their children and about parent education and involvement in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Surveys with 513 LAUSD parent leaders revealed low ratings for LAUSD’s parent education efforts as well as for student academic programs. Open-ended responses point both to educational as well as policy recommendations in the following areas: 1) home/school collaboration; 2) professional development, curriculum and Instruction, and tutors/support; and 3) accountability. This policy brief concludes that improvement in the educational experiences and outcomes for Standard English Learners and English Learners can happen by capitalizing on existing parent leadership.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_education_policybriefs/1000/thumbnail.jp