Privileging Teachers' Voices in a Call to Action: Nine Recommendations to Support Dual Language Learners

• In Event: Stakeholder Perceptions and Experiences

Abstract

School systems that have strong leadership are among the systems most likely to achieve school success, particularly in the area of dual language learners (Ascenzi-Morreno, Hesson, & Menken, 2015; DeMatthews & Izquierdo, 2017). Through the lens of Walqui’s (2000) priorities for designing instruction for dual language learners, this paper examines teachers’ needs from leadership to equitably support and enact newly learned practices throughout a five-year, district-wide professional development initiative. This paper shares the thematic analysis of teacher surveys (n=1987), resulting in nine categories of recommendations to include curricular adjustments, instructional design, student visibility, and assessment. Teachers’ voices are a call to action that favor collaborative and shared leadership while foregrounding practices that cultivate multilingualism, agency and visibility among all learners.

Author

• Marisa Ferraro, Southern Connecticut State University