Education Week - March 29, 2023 - 7

Professional
Development Tips
For Supporting
English Learners
Many teachers aren't well prepared
to work with English learners.
PD can help fill that knowledge gap
By Ileana Najarro
The English learner population is growing but the number of specialized instructors
for them and training for general education teachers who work with
them is lagging.
Researchers and educators say professional development for all teachers
and school leaders rooted in best practices for English learners is needed
to fill in the gap.
But, if a district or school were to invest time and money into developing such
training, where would they start, and what are some of those best practices that
should be covered to ensure the best return on investment?
Diane Staehr Fenner, the president and founder of SupportEd, a consulting firm
focused on English learners' education, and Rebecca Bergey, a senior researcher
at the nonprofit American Institutes for Research, offer some suggestions.
What to do before starting
professional development
Here's a sample of what to cover before
rolling out professional development
across a school or district.
Acknowledge that schools and
students are unique
Every English learner is unique,
just as schools can be unique in how
best to serve their students.
" So you want to [first] look in
classrooms and see what's happening,
what's going well, and what
might need to be improved, " Staehr
Fenner said.
Use classroom observations
and data
A needs assessment that starts
with school leadership should involve
observations of multiple, varied
classrooms. Depending on the
school, that could mean a 3rd grade
English/language arts class, a 7th
grade math class, and a specialized
English-as-a-second-language class
period.
In these observations " typically
you're looking for scaffolding, peerto-peer
interactions, [use of] oral
language, academic language, formative
assessment, culturally responsive
teaching, " Staehr Fenner said.
In the needs assessment, you also
need to review data such as how
students are doing on English language
proficiency tests, and break
down content area data by Englishlearner
subgroups.
Get teacher input
This preliminary assessment phase
must also involve asking teachers
where they feel they need more support
and even hosting student focus
groups for their input as well, Staehr
Fenner added.
Getting teacher input is a key part
of how school leaders can cultivate " a
culture of continuous improvement
and continuous learning within their
site " said Bergey with AIR.
With that mindset in place, general
education or content area teachers,
even other staff members such as arts
teachers and P.E. coaches, can have
more buy-in to training and more
readily view English learners as their
shared responsibility and not the sole
responsibility of specialists.
Roll out professional development
in phases
Once the needs assessment is complete,
school leaders must agree upon
what topics need to be covered in
school-wide professional development.
The next phase should invite a group
of both general education and Englishas-a-second-language
as a second language
teachers, already invested in
moving the needle at their school, to
pilot the professional development.
From there, a small group of teachers
can undergo the training and then it
gets rolled out across the whole school,
Staehr Fenner said.
Best practices that should be
covered in training
Though each school's needs may
be different in terms of what topics
must be covered in professional development
on working with English
learners, here are a few that generally
should be accounted for based
on best practices rooted in research:
Scaffolding: Make sure that
all teachers know how to scaffold
instruction, especially in the academic
content areas, to ensure that
"
So you want
to [first] look in
classrooms and
see what's
happening, what's
going well, and
what might need
to be improved
DIANE STAEHR FENNER
President and founder of
SupportEd, a consulting firm
focused on English learners'
education
English-learners can engage with
grade-level work alongside their
non-English learner peers.
Academic conversations: Teachers
need to be able to set up English
learners with the right opportunities
for practicing academic conversations
in class. " [Teachers] can't just
say 'Hey, turn and talk,' that's not really
going to work with our English
learners, you'd have to provide them
support so they're coming to conversations
prepared, " Staehr Fenner said.
That could include offering structured
conversation guides for students to use
with non-English-learner peers.
Academic language: Academic
language-distinct from everyday,
social language-isn't limited to
vocabulary. It requires students to
understand how sentences and discourse
work in a given field of study
such as the academic language of
explaining a math problem versus
that of a debate in history class.
Training needs to cover how to best
support English learners' development
of academic language in class.
Culturally responsive teaching:
All teachers should work to
build relationships with English
learners at their school and help
them feel welcome. One way to do
that is to ensure that instruction for
these students is infused with culturally
responsive teaching, Staehr
Fenner said. Broadly speaking, culturally
responsive teaching is a kind
of teaching that uses students' customs,
characteristics, experiences,
and perspectives as tools for instruction.
Training should help teachers
understand how to use this teaching
approach with their English learners.
Collaboration: Training should
emphasize opportunities for collaboration
between English learner specialists
and all other educators in a
school. This would ensure that these
students are properly supported in all
classrooms with grade-level content.
" Ten or 20 years ago, there was the
thought that students learn English
first, so put them in the ESL classes,
when they get enough English, then
let's start teaching them content, let's
push them out, " Bergey said. " And
we know now that that's not the case,
that students are learning both English
and content simultaneously. "
Schools with English learner specialists
should leverage their expertise
by giving them time and opportunities
for collaborative conversations to take
place, she added.
Interim informal check-ins through
teachers observing other teachers to
see how the professional development
is going, and other forms of
coaching along the way could help
teachers integrate new strategies in
their instruction as training continues,
Staehr Fenner said.
Formative assessment: Language
development is a process and
a way to help all teachers understand
this is by making sure they first know
what English learners are tested on
in language proficiency tests, Bergey
said. The ACCESS for ELLs test for
instance, used in 36 states, tests students
in four language domains: reading,
writing, listening, and speaking.
Learning more about the test and
how students are scored can help
teachers best know how to support students
in class. For instance, they may
have an English learner who listens
well and actively participates by speaking
in class, but they could use extra
support and opportunities to practice
their reading and writing skills.
In general, teachers should have
strategies and tools at their disposal
to see how their English learners are
doing, and then be able to take the
data and adapt their instruction accordingly,
Staehr Fenner said.
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