Long-Term ELs Part 3: Targeted Staff Development---Appropriate Support for Different Groups of Teachers and Staff

Two students working on schoolwork at a desk.

by Janna Heiligenstein, Ph.D.

So after reading the first two articles in this series about Long-Term English Learners, or LTELs, (see Part 1 and Part 2), are you ready to take the next steps? Here are some areas to target to turn things around:

Co-teaching and collaboration

Classroom teachers and specialists need to be taught how to work together, or else you end up with a highly paid aide walking around helping a group of students who are still isolated from their peers---this time just in the back of the classroom. Collaboration and co-teaching also requires meeting time, which also might need to be facilitated while teams are learning how to work together. These three tips can help you get teams started.

In one school in Virginia, I spent an hour a week with the kindergarten team as we re-worked their approach. The ESL specialist targeted vocabulary and academic language strategies for each unit, while the kindergarten teachers divided up content areas and ability levels so that each unit was ready to go with a minimum of three ability levels (low, middle, high) for learning activities. These did not reduce content, but rather had differing amounts and types of scaffolds depending on the needs of the students. We also included other specialists such as the math coach and special education staff when appropriate. This was much more work on the front end, but resulted in students making significant gains and fewer behavioral issues as the students that both were struggling or excelling were able to be successful and challenged at their level. This advanced planning also allowed the teachers to be more prepared and better able to make individual instructional decisions during the lessons rather than being overwhelmed with differentiating for an entire class on the fly. The academic language expertise that the ESL teacher brought to the team raised their awareness of the needs of the language learners and the inclusion of specific strategies in the lessons supported all students in making gains across the content areas.

Professional Development for Classroom Teachers

Teachers need to understand WHY they should use a specific strategy, not just how to do it. In every staff development I’ve been to the teachers have wanted something to take away, and our mentality in schools is to tell teachers WHAT and sometimes HOW to teach---with scripted texts and preselected materials. We need to stop doing this. Our staff development has to focus on teachers understanding the language acquisition process, on being self-aware about their own assumptions about students, student learning and understanding their own use of language. We need to specifically help teachers gain the skills to identify academic language patterns and vocabulary so they can then use that knowledge to structure meaningful social learning opportunities for students to engage in, experiment with and ultimately be successful in acquiring academic language. This article explains why all teachers are teachers of academic language.

Professional Development for ESL specialists

Having an ESL certificate does not equate being a classroom or content area expert. Counting on our ESL teachers to provide the majority of literacy and math instruction for students is not using their strengths and may indeed mean that students are getting teachers that have less content knowledge than their classroom peers. As a coordinator, I used to tell my ESL teachers that they had to be “better than” their classroom peers---they needed to know the content areas in the grades they supported (in our state, we were certified in grades preK-12), AND they needed to be able to facilitate the language acquisition process. However this is a process that takes time and targeted staff development. Another issue to consider is that many ESL teachers went into ESL because they liked the idea of working with small groups of students. They may need extra support to feel comfortable with whole classrooms full of students and with classroom management strategies as you transition to co-teaching models.

We also need our ESL teachers to be resources to other teachers. While one district I worked in had a ratio of 25 ELs to 1 ESL teacher, another district had a ratio that sometimes hit 125:1. In cases like this, making use of the ESL teachers’ expertise in facilitating language through the use of a coaching model for classroom teachers may be the best bang for your buck. However, ESL teachers may not be comfortable teaching or coaching their peers and may need instruction and support to be able to do so effectively.

Professional Development for other Specialists

Within a well-differentiated classroom, approximately 10-20% of the students still may need extra support. Typically this support, identified as tier 2 support in the RTI model, is provided by a specialist—reading, math, etc. using techniques that have been scientifically proven to work with struggling students who are native English speakers and who have disabilities. These techniques are not appropriate for English learners. Typically these intervention specialists need training around language acquisition and need to learn how to incorporate oral language practice to support comprehension and vocabulary growth. In addition, because long-term Els (and even ELD level 4-5 students in intermediate grades) most like missed key literacy instruction in the lower grades, the instruction they need should be provided based on rolling assessments and instructional periods that target one area at a time. Without this, we end up with students who have literacy and content area knowledge that looks like swiss cheese. Each child may have different gaps, and all we need to know how to assess for those gaps and determine appropriate instructional strategies to address them. We then need to move on to the next gap, which is the piece that most typical intervention models do not address since they are not designed to meet the needs of the language acquisition process but rather are designed for students who may have memory or learning challenges instead.

This support for teachers obviously needs to be modified based on the individual teachers’ abilities and needs in your school, but is critical if you want to move to a co-teaching/collaboration model, as well as one that focuses more support on ELD level 4 and 5 students.

Our system of schooling has created the issue of long-term ELs. While the increase in ELs across the country is straining current resources, the answer doesn’t necessarily lie in just adding more teachers. Rather, we need to examine our current beliefs and practices, realign the resources we have, and improve our understanding of language acquisition to best design and meet the needs of our ELs before they get stuck. It takes a courageous leader and staff to be willing to admit the current system is broken and that we can and must do better for this group of students, but I have full faith that together we can lead those changes that need to happen.

Up Next: Long-Term ELs Part 4: Addressing the Needs of Long-Term English Learners