On the Verge of Change: Organizational Contexts to Support Teacher Learning in New Immigrant Destinations

• In Event: Organizational Context and Instructional Leadership: The Importance of Teacher Collaboration and Student Achievement

Abstract

This paper will build knowledge that “makes the impossible seem possible” by describing how schools in a new immigrant destination began to organize to support elementary teachers’ opportunities to learn about English learner instruction. Using social network and interview data collected in one mid-sized district in the Midwestern US, we will identify organizational opportunities and challenges to supporting teacher's learning opportunities in schools on the verge of significant demographic change, and offer recommendations to school leaders related to the kinds of formal and informal structures that can facilitate teachers’ professional learning.

Authors

• Megan Hopkins, University of California - San Diego

• Tara Vahdani, University of California - San Diego

• Maxie Alexandra Gluckman, University of California - San Diego