Practitioner Research for Emergent Bilinguals: The Core Driver in a University-District Partnership for Leadership Preparation

• In Event: Moving Emergent Bilingual Students to the Center: Transforming Leadership Preparation in a District-University Partnership

Abstract

Purpose. This first paper articulates the conceptual framework for the overall project. The lead instructor/director briefly describes the context within which the partnership emerged along with the core purposes, design elements, and theory of change. Most centrally, putting practitioner research and practitioner-generated knowledge on LTELs at the center aimed to challenge the traditionally hierarchical nature of the university-district relationship.
Perspectives. At the heart of our research/practice endeavor is the theory of how change for EBs will occur: If aspiring leaders engage in strategic inquiry (Panero & Talbert, 2013), then outcomes for English learners will improve. The core assignment stretching across the program was repeated cycles of inquiry. Candidates focused in year 1 on specific LTEL students to make evidence-driven decisions that improve student outcomes. They focused in year 2 on systems (team, school, district) to change decision-making to improve outcomes for LTELs as a whole. Improvements in both instructional leadership and student learning were found in prior iterations of strategic inquiry (Talbert, 2012; Wohlstetter, Kim, & Flack, 2018). The findings presented here substantiate these prior findings, providing rich cases of how teacher learning can occur when the core driver of leadership development curriculum is a social justice orientation.
Modes of inquiry. The overarching research question for this project is: To what extent, if at all, does the credential program lead to improved outcomes in (1) target leadership behaviors, and (2) LTEL/EB student success. We engaged in nested practitioner action research (Anderson, Herr, & Nihlen, 2007); program faculty studied our own ability to shift candidate learning, while the candidates/graduates studied their ability to shift EB student learning. This paper speaks to the former, while the subsequent three papers speak to the latter.
Data sources/evidence. We rely mainly on two years of graduate student coursework, including candidate-gathered data for students with whom they were working directly. We also draw upon district student achievement data, in order to substantiate a correlation between our “intervention” and improved LTEL student success.
Substantiated conclusions. In spring of 2018, the collaborative team outlined an unfolding series of metrics that would determine the success of the credential program. This logic is rooted in the leadership development literature (see for example, Pounder, 2012), and theorized that the team should (1) first expect to see changes at the level of candidate knowledge (demonstrated in writing), followed by (2) changes in observed candidate behavior, and finally (3) changes in student outcomes. This paper speaks to all three metrics, presenting a summary of research findings to date. These include development of candidates’ leadership competencies and skills; improved oral language and writing for LTELs; and early evidence of district and university system changes to better serve EB students.
Scholarly significance. This first paper provides the guidance for those wanting to similarly shift how they develop leaders who further social justice outcomes. It provides an overview of the possibilities for authentic district-university partnership for leadership learning focused on students historically outside the sphere of school success.

Author

• Jennifer Goldstein, California State University - Fullerton