The Impact of Virtual Professional Development on Kindergarten Bilingual Teachers' Instruction: Fidelity in a Randomized Study

• In Event: Young Learners and the Promise of Bilingualism

Abstract

We investigated the effect of an ongoing, intensive, and structured virtual professional development (VPD) on the fidelity of implementation in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study implemented in ten Texas school districts. Virtual observations were collected three times at the beginning, middle and the end of the school year in 126 kindergarten classrooms. Results indicated that VPD had a statistically significant impact on teachers’ fidelity of implementation. Treatment teachers overperformed control teachers in the following areas: student involvement, level questioning, application of ESL strategies, providing affective and cognitive feedback, and more opportunities for students participating in reading and speaking activities.

Authors

• Cindy Lynn Guerrero, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Shifang Tang, East Texas A&M University

• Rafael Lara-Alecio, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Beverly J. Irby, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Fuhui Tong, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Zhuoying Wang, University of Texas at Austin