Expanding the Knowledge Base on Teacher Learning and Collaboration: A Focus on Asian American English Language Learners

Executive Summary: Project 2.2 Principal Investigator: Ji-Mei Chang jmchang@email.sjsu.edu San Jose State University Department of Special Education Co-author: Ward Shimizu San Jose State University Department of Special Education Project Period: Fall, 1998 – Spring, 2001 Research Goals and Objectives The persistent myth of the "model minority" student overshadows the urgent need for effective school intervention for today’s English learners of Asian descent who are lagging behind their English-speaking peers. When they are not model minority students and their families have low SES, the current group of English learners is often at risk of academic failure. This problem is exacerbated both by a shortage of qualified teachers in many Title I schools and by district policies that base promotion and graduation solely on standardized test scores. Educating these Asian American English learners requires sustained professional development among teachers to assist students within their zone of proximal development (ZPD); such professional development activities must be directly linked to classroom practices with these under-studied student populations. The specific goal of this project was to study how CREDE’s Five Standards for Effective Pedagogy, which are based on a sociocultural theory of education, might be applied across three different but interrelated contexts: professional development, classroom intervention and school-home/community partnership. Research Design and Findings In Years I and II, the project brought researchers and teachers together in collaborative action research and formed a research team to initiate and document teacher collaboration and classroom intervention in a sheltered program in a Title I middle school. To address the research questions, we employed a mixed-method design: quantitative methodology measured student achievement; qualitative methodology, including participant observation, was used to study how CREDE standards might be applied across the three contexts. In Year III, we conducted a follow-up study to interview participants in the Year II study; planned activities for participant observation in the sheltered classroom were hampered by administrative changes at the school. Professional Development Professional development activities were central to the project. Within the school, teachers focused on classroom intervention; beyond the school, they also forged partnerships with participating students’ families and friends. In Year I at this Title I school, we recruited five teachers–one English language development (ELD), three special education, and one new general education teacher. In Year II, we recruited seven teachers–three ELD, two special education resource, and two new general education teachers. Throughout the planning, training, and implementation phases of the study, CREDE’s Five Standards for Effective Pedagogy played an integral role. Specifically, these standards were used as the guidelines for the research team to (1) co-construct research tools for classroom intervention program and measurement in Year I, (2) co-plan four Family Literacy Nights in Year II, and (3) facilitate the adoption, clarification, and infusion of the theory of multiple intelligences (MI) as teaching-learning-assessing tools used in the classroom intervention activities in both years. Nature of Research Context. A group of four ELD teachers in the participating middle school, two of whom were relatively new, initiated a sixth-grade sheltered program to provide early intervention for their lowest performing incoming sixth graders. The two most experienced ELD teachers served as co-coordinators. The coordinators screened and recruited roughly 60 incoming sixth grade students prior to the fall 1998 semester and divided them into two ability groups based on test scores and overall English proficiency. Over two consecutive school years between 1998 and 2000, the lowest performing incoming sixth grade English learners were all of Asian descent. Some of them were also referred and identified in school as having learning disabilities (LD). The focal point of the present research project was ELD Teacher A and her two classrooms language arts and history classes in which low-scoring English language learners of Asian descent were enrolled. Institutional Support. Support from the district office and school administrators was very strong in Year I, but changes in administrators at both levels brought shifts in priorities and agendas. In Year II, while planning and sponsoring the four Family Literacy Nights, we witnessed a parade of three substitute school principles. In Year III, a key component of our research project–a sheltered program for sixth grade English learners with the lowest performance profile–was dismantled without consulting parents or teachers. By now, only ELD Teacher A, citing our research evidence on positive student achievement, pushed to have the sheltered program reinstated for low performing English learners in future years. Sadly, all of the special education resource teachers now have left the district, citing a lack of administrative support. Classroom Intervention The ultimate goal of teachers’ collaboration, learning, and professional development was to enhance student achievement through the designated classroom intervention. In this section, we summarized the nature of the sheltered program, the features of the language and literacy intervention program, and positive results on student achievement. Classroom Intervention Program Using a collaborative action research model, participating teachers worked together to design a classroom intervention program aimed at enhancing participating students’ language and literacy development. The program was based on several strategies and teaching practices that were found effective with English learners, including a district adopted four reciprocal teaching (RT) strategies for boosting reading comprehension–predicting, clarifying, summarizing and questioning. Because the sheltered students had such numerous and severe needs in overall language and literacy development, participating Year I teachers decided at the outset not to focus the study on just testing the effectiveness of the RT model. Instead, the research team attempted to identify strategies, activities, and/or pedagogies that promoted language and literacy development among the low performing Asian American English learners. Student Achievement The focus of analysis was on target students participated in the Year I and Year II of studies. The findings on student outcomes were measured by district-wide Stanford Achievement Tests, Ninth Edition (SAT9). Year I and Year II programs had similar program impacts on reading, mathematics and language; each program had its unique strengths as reflected by SAT9 test scores. Multivariate statistics indicate that Year I was successful (Effect size >= 0.30) in reading and mathematics but not in language, while Year II was successful in promoting all three academic skills for participating students. The univariate statistics reveal that the Year I program did extremely well in vocabulary (reading), problem solving and procedure (mathematics); the Year II program was successful in vocabulary (reading), problem solving (mathematics) and mechanics (language). Based on classroom observations and interviews, both the Year I and Year II programs improved students’ overall classroom performance, such as participation, oral presentations, use of expressive language, and role-plays. Towards the end of the school year, participating students also demonstrated self-confidence as readers and felt ready to enter seventh grade. School-Home/Community Partnership Forging a school-home partnership was not an easy task in this middle school. We entertained various ideas in Year I, but we were unable to carry through even after we produced videotapes for parents regarding certain classroom intervention strategies. In Year II, the entire research team reached a consensus early on to initiate a school/home/community partnership by sponsoring four Family Literacy Nights. The planning and activities for the Family Literacy Nights were guided by CREDE standards for effective pedagogy. During each Family Literacy Night session, each team explained and modeled the specific strategies that participating students were using for reading and language development. Participants received a Parent’s Handbook, Together, We Can Help Your Child Read Better Through Multiple Paths, developed by the research team. The PI also used the drawing of a scaffold that depicted the mutually supportive nature of CREDE’s standards and MI as pedagogical tools in this project in order to highlight teaching for understanding. Through teamwork and interactions with family members, we explored types of activities parent-child, sibling-sibling, or friend-child may use to reinforce classroom learning. Feedback received from participating family members and students was positive, and they appreciated the illustrations of the handbook for each strategy, as well as hands-on practices with teachers on the same set of strategies. The drawing of a scaffold helped family members and friends grasp the dynamics of the classroom instruction and see how the same concepts may be used to support student learning at home. Hence, we were confident that CREDE standards were applicable to home practices. Conclusions and Implications In this school-based professional development project, we implemented CREDE Five Standards for Effective Pedagogy across three contexts: professional development, classroom intervention, and home practices. When institutional support can be made available to teachers, an integrated, sheltered instructional program across the core subjects, language arts, history, math, and science will provide much needed support for target students’ language and literacy development. Participant observation suggests two keys for helping low-performing Asian American English learners: 1) collaboration among teachers, and 2) the presence of teachers sufficiently expert to choose the right intervention strategy to directly assist learners in their zones of proximal development. The researcher observed, recorded, and co-taught some lessons and activities as the students developed language and literacy skills. Without participating throughout two consecutive school years, the researcher would not have been able to document the lives of the students in the sheltered classrooms as well as the dynamic integration of various effective intervention strategies. By observing a large number of typical school days over a long time, we were able to also report many more teacher-teacher and teacher-student interactions within and beyond classroom instruction. Life in a Title I middle school presents substantial challenges to teachers and students alike. Fortunately, there are dedicated teachers who forge partnerships to support each other and their students. Through collaborative action research with these teachers, supported through participation observation activities, we have broadened our interpretation and applications of the CREDE standards in new contexts.