The Implementation of English Language Proficiency Standards Across States

• In Event: Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: Common Core State Standards, Language Standards, and English Language Learners: An Exploration of Implementation Processes

Abstract

English language development standards are seen by most policymakers as essential in helping educator meet the needs of English language learners (ELLs). The present paper reports on a research project on the implementation of language standards developed by the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA). The purpose of the paper is to illuminate some of the key factors that shape classroom implementation of language standards.
The study takes a systems perspective to implementation. Teachers are viewed as agents whose use of language standards is mediated by social, cultural, and political factors at the micro (classroom) as well as macro (state, national) levels. This perspective allows for an assets-based view of teachers that does not blame them for lack of full implementation but instead seeks to understand the types of resources on which they are able to draw as they strive to meet the needs of their ELL students.
Thirty-nine educators from 14 districts across seven member states in the WIDA Consortium participated in the study. Data for the study was collected between January 2012 and March 2013. Data was collected from: (a) coordinators of English as a second language (ESL) services in several districts across the WIDA Consortium, and (b) teachers employed in those districts. The ELL population in half of the districts was below 10%, while in half of the districts it was between 10% and 29%. The primary sources of data were interview transcripts and instructional documents (such as unit plans, lesson plans, report cards, and rubrics). Both sources of data were analyzed for recurring themes using ethnographic methods and coded using the qualitative software NVIVO. The data analysis aimed to capture the variety of ways in which educators use language standards in their practice and the relationships that may exist between the educators’ implementation of the standards, professional development they have received, and the district staff’s understanding of and experience with language standards.
The analysis of the data suggests that: (a) the implementation of the ELP standards is limited to ESL teachers; (b) educators use language standards mainly as a guide in setting reasonable expectations for the English language development of ELLs, and as a resource for differentiating instruction for language; and (c) the knowledge and experience of the district coordinator regarding academic language development in general and language standards in particular shape in significant ways educators’ opportunities to draw on the standards as a resource.
The paper’s significance rests in its attempt to capture a variety of forms of implementation of language standards at the classroom level and to make connections between these forms of implementation and other factors, such as educators’ understanding of their role as language teachers, professional development available to educators, and the districts’ vision for standards implementation. The paper contributes to a nascent body of literature on the role that language standards play in helping educators meet the needs of ELLs.

Author

• Daniella Molle, University of Wisconsin