ESOL Professional Development in Georgia: Challenges and Opportunities in the New Latino Diaspora

• In Event: 31.049 - The South Is Different: Preparing Teachers to Work With English Learners in the Southeastern United States

Abstract

This paper argues that efforts to educate Georgia teachers about working with English learners must take into account the state’s unique context. It identifies several aspects of this context with significant implications for teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) using historical and policy analyses, and then illustrates consequences with research data drawn from an ESOL professional development project.

The paper addresses the unique demographics of immigration to Georgia, with its population going rapidly from negligible in the 1980s to one of the top ten immigrant-receiving countries in the nation (Hooker, Fix, & McHugh, 2014, March)(United States Census Bureau, 2012, May). As a result, the paper shows how Georgia schools are especially lacking in infrastructure and educators trained to work with English learners. It documents how the state has recruited ESOL teachers from out of state while teachers from Georgia often remain lacking in ESOL training.

The paper then considers educational implications of Georgia’s unique and contradictory reception of immigrants. While Georgia industries have actively recruited immigrants, at the same time legislators have enacted one of the most restrictive laws in the country, barring undocumented students from some public universities and adult education programs (Hooker et al., 2014, March). The paper shows how misperceptions of the immigrant population as temporary lead to makeshift policies on educating English learners and fail to recognize that 75% of these students are now American born (Alston, 2013, April).

The paper also points out special challenges for immigrant education posed by Georgia’s history of multigenerational poverty and school failure. 62% of students in Georgia public schools are economically disadvantaged (Suggs, 2014, January). Georgia’s immigrant population likewise has a high proportion of students from low educational and income backgrounds (Kochhar, Suro, & Tafoya, 2005; MDC, 2010; Wainer, 2004). Moreover, Georgia’s unusual pattern of rural immigrant settlement (see, e.g., (Beck & Allexsaht-Snider, 2002; Lynn, 2012) brings English learners to areas where the poverty level far exceed that in other parts of the U.S. (MDC, 2011). This exacerbates immigrant underachievement. Georgia already has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country (70% in 2010) and its graduation rate for English learners (44%) is even more grim (Hooker et al., 2014, March).

The paper further considers Georgia educator working conditions and implications for ESOL professional development. As one of only five states that prohibit teacher collective bargaining, the paper illustrates how a lack of job protections can make educators risk averse and unwilling to advocate for immigrant students. The paper also considers the impact of Georgia’s chronic school under-funding (Suggs, 2014, January) on teachers’ willingness to undertake professional development given enduring educator layoffs, furloughs, larger class sizes, and uncertainties regarding teacher evaluations.

In all, the paper argues that Georgia presents a unique setting for professional development with the teachers of English learners, and that practices and policies derived from other contexts may therefore be of limited value. It suggests that effective teacher education policies and practices must be contextually sensitive and developed in situ.

Author

• Linda Harklau, University of Georgia