Reaching All Individuals and Communities to Establish Success in Language Learning

• In Event: NPD (National Professional Development) Grant-Generated Challenges: Moving the Field of Effective MLL (Multilingual Learner) Instruction Forward

Abstract

The Reaching All Individuals and Communities to Establish Success in Language Learning or RAICES OELA NPD Grant creates a unique experience for in-/pre-service teachers, educator preparation faculty, and parents/caregivers of students who are multilingual language learners (MLL) to come together during four, day-long gatherings that provide both individualized and community-wide sessions that bring together the diverse needs/interests of each participant group in universal celebration of Latino(x) culture and development in early language and literacy skills.
The stipends provided by the NPD grant to each participant groups have allowed for a thoughtfully crafted professional development (PD) experience that promotes community and the sharing of resources, language, and literacy that participants would not otherwise experience in our rural town. The three research goals for the RAICES grant are to: (1) investigate the impact of the grant on the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and qualifications of participants in delivering effective and equitable instruction to students classified as English Learners/Multilingual Language Learners, while also fostering engagement between families, schools, and the wider community; (2) explore how participants perceive their learning after participating in the grant; and (3) investigate the outcomes of the research as a way to inform the implementation of the grant and improve its effectiveness.
Since each of the four participant groups experience the PD in a different way, it is researched using a qualitative phenomenological approach with artifacts collected to capture how each of those participant groups experience the phenomena of engaging in the PD. While we are currently organizing our year 1 data and still completing preliminary data analysis, some of the research challenges we have faced are: (1) the OELA NPD grant is not a research grant, so the budgeting and logistical structure is focused on; thus what is left over/allocated is often insufficient for conducting high-quality research ; (2) the PD-focus of the grant coupled with recognizing and respecting the vulnerable nature of the populations we are serving often limits the options for research design; and, finally, (3) grant staff/faculty PIs may not have a strong enough research background or enough time allocated within the grant activities to design and facilitate data collection and complete in-depth data analysis as their time and efforts are to be prioritized for delivering a meaningful PD experience. and While these challenges may or may not be specific to the characteristics and objectives of the RAICES grant, we have implemented a few strategies to address these issues, including: (1) allocating time and money for a person with a strong grant research background to facilitate and organize the research and data collection; (2) communicating, routinely and transparently, to grant staff and co-PIs about research activities (including conferences and other scholarly proposals); and (3) building thoughtful data collection into the PD schedule to facilitate unobtrusive collection of significant research artifacts. While we are uncertain as to the outcome of our strategies, we are certain that our efforts will help us learn to improve our ability to implement, manage, and facilitate research in a PD grant.

Authors

• Chrissy J Cross, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Marisol Diaz, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

• Lauren E. Burrow, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Heather K. Olson Beal, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Carrie Wright-Davis, Stephen F. Austin State University