Exploring Educator Perceptions of the Barriers and Facilitators to Secondary Course-Taking for English Learners

• In Event: Intersecting Pathways: Exploring Access, Outcomes, and Attitudes in the Education of Secondary English Learners

Abstract

Objectives: The study seeks to better understand educators’ attitudes and beliefs regarding secondary academic course access and success for English learners through a survey administered to general education teachers, ESL teachers, and ESL coordinators.

Perspectives: Research suggests that English learners are less likely than their English speaking peers to take core content-area and advanced courses in middle and high school, impacting their academic achievement and college readiness (Johnson, 2019; Umansky, 2016). Furthermore, scholars have suggested that educator attitudes may in part be responsible for reduced access to rigorous academic coursework for ELs (Blanchard & Muller, 2015; Callahan & Shifrer, 2016). Less is known, however, about the nature of these attitudes across schools and how these attitudes may differ between roles. To address this gap, the study seeks to answer the following research questions:
What are educator attitudes and beliefs regarding the barriers and facilitators to academic course taking for secondary English learners?
How do these attitudes and beliefs differ by educator role (general education teacher, ESL teacher, and ESL coordinator)?

Methods: To answer the research questions, we will rely upon findings from our survey. The survey asked about participant demographics and school characteristics. It then asked questions organized across five constructs, aligned to one of three levels: (1) Student level: Attitudes about language proficiency (2) Teacher level: Content teacher instructional practices; Collaboration between educators; (3) School/policy level: School resources; School culture.

To answer the first research question, we examined descriptive data from each construct, including means and standard deviations, to assess where educators attribute the greatest barriers and the greatest facilitators to course taking. To answer the second question, we examined means and standard deviations by subgroup based on the primary roles of participants, including general education teachers, ESL teachers and ESL coordinators.

Data: The study draws on findings from an original 120-item online survey distributed to educators across 39 states (n=143 educators; see Table 4.1 for demographics). We plan to conduct a second, larger survey in Fall 2022 and will include findings from this survey in the final paper as well.

Results: Initial analyses indicated that the scores were reliable (see Table 4.2) and demonstrated evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Our descriptive analyses of each construct showed that school resources were perceived to be the greatest barrier and that school culture was perceived to be the lowest barrier (see Table 4.2). These findings differed across participant subgroups (see Table 4.3). While the highest barriers were the same, the second highest barrier across all three roles was distinct. General educators perceived the second highest barrier to be student language proficiency while ESL teachers and coordinators perceived content teacher collaboration to be the second highest.

Scholarly Significance: This paper aligns with the conference theme by exploring educator attitudes and beliefs regarding EL course taking at the secondary level. Gathering educator perspectives across many school sites can provide a nuanced understanding and examine the issue of inequitable course access in a novel way.

Authors

• Lindsay Romano, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Kristin Black, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Sophia Hwang, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Jeremy Miciak, The University of Texas
  Presenting Author

• Coleen D. Carlson, University of Houston
  Presenting Author

• Ben Le, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Michael J. Kieffer, New York University
  Presenting Author

• David J. Francis, University of Houston
  Presenting Author