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Measuring Effects of English Learner–Focused Professional Development Across Contexts

Mon, April 8, 10:25 to 11:55am, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Floor: 200 Level, Room 206A

Abstract

Despite the common use of surveys to assess teachers’ practices (Desimone et al., 2002), and the availability of items that examine practices specific to teachers of English learners (e.g., Bos et al., 2012; Martinez et al., 2010; Rader-Brown & Howley, 2014), a comprehensive survey and well-defined set of items that capture these practices do not exist. Moreover, the majority of survey studies examining EL-related practices are cross-sectional and focus on individual teachers, limiting what is known about the longitudinal effects of professional development, and how these effects differ across contexts. The purposes of this paper are: 1) to present results from the validation of an English Learner Instructional Practice survey from teachers in five school districts; and 2) to examine relationships between school climate and teachers’ practices, and whether and how these change over time as a result of EL-focused professional development.

We will use survey data collected from K-12 teachers (n=350) in spring and summer 2017, 2018, and 2019, across five districts: one in the Northeast and four in the Midwest. The districts represent rural, urban, and suburban districts, and serve EL populations that vary in size and racial and ethnic diversity. Select teachers in each district (n=80) participate in one of two National Professional Development projects focused on fostering equity and opportunity for ELs via linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogy. Forty survey items measure EL-related instructional practices, and thirty items measure aspects of school climate, such as teacher trust, principal leadership, and collective efficacy (Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Goddard, Hoy, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2000).

We will first describe our survey construction and validation process. The survey was based on a literature review that established key areas of EL-related practice, and identified prior instruments used to assess each area. This review was followed by a systematic process for selecting and creating items, and validity and reliability were tested via cognitive interviews (Desimone & Le Floch, 2004) and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Based on our findings, we present the English Learner Instructional Practice scale, which measures the extent to which teachers report: 1) leveraging funds of knowledge; 2) fostering classroom discourse; and 3) using formative assessment. Then, we use survey data to investigate whether and how teachers’ reported practices are associated with school climate, and how these associations change over time as a result of participation in professional development. We describe differences across districts and discuss context-specific considerations in the delivery and evaluation of EL-related professional development. For example, we highlight variations in professional development design between districts where leaders are more and less invested in developing systems of supports for teachers of ELs.

Our findings offer both substantive and methodological implications to researchers and practitioners. While the scales we developed can inform the design and evaluation of professional development for teachers of ELs, our approach also highlights the importance of capturing school climate as a mechanism for understanding how the effects of professional development differ within and between contexts.

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