Across the United States, school districts have adopted various methods to capture what effective teachers do to facilitate student learning. Some of these methods include peer lesson studies where teachers co‐plan and co‐evaluate their work, examining student standardized tests scores to align teachers with student learning outcomes, and using a teacher observation protocol to examine in‐class instructional practices and evaluate teachers. These methods have been used across the teaching profession with generalized student populations. The Danielson Group Framework for Teaching (FFT) is one observation protocol that has been used throughout the United States as a tool to examine teacher effectiveness in the context of teacher evaluations (Campbell & Ronfeldt, 2018, American Educational Research Journal, 55, 1233). In its traditional form, the FFT protocol does not capture the specialized work of teachers of English learner (EL) students in mainstream inclusive classrooms. This article examines the modification and validation of an EL‐modified FFT observation protocol across two of the four domains of the FFT. Findings demonstrate that the EL‐modified FFT instrument is both valid and reliable as an observation tool for teachers of EL students in mainstream inclusive classrooms.
The number of English language learners (ELs) across the United States continues to grow, particularly in rural and new destination settings. However, educators remain un- and under-prepared for working with ELs nationally. This article provides findings from a study of one teacher leader professional development program in a rural school district that sought to prepare educators for ELs. We describe the professional development program and the rural context of the district. Findings from this study derive from an online survey of participants. Data reveal that rural educators seek to acquire skills and strategies that go beyond the classroom setting and that enable them to connect with EL families. They also believe that teacher leaders of ELs demonstrate compassion and build social-emotional support networks for themselves as professionals, as well as with EL families.
The rapid growth in the number of English learners (ELs) in urban and rural school classrooms and the continual homogenization of a White, female, teaching force in the United States create cultural and linguistic disconnections in the classroom. As research suggests, although classroom diversity and ELs’ academic needs could be addressed by teachers’ enactment of linguistically responsive teaching (LRT) practices, most mainstream classroom teachers are not adequately prepared to implement these practices. This study examined the teaching practices of teachers with English learners in rural, elementary classroom settings in the US to find evidence of linguistically responsive teaching. It also explored how rurality shaped teachers’ instruction of ELs. The findings illustrate limited and considerable evidence of LRT implementation in the teachers’ classrooms. Evidence shows that two focal teachers mostly implemented LRT through their teaching strategies and scaffolded instruction. Findings further demonstrate that rural factors like place-based awareness and the teachers’ rural upbringing influenced their instruction of ELs. Implications on the need for researchers to undertake further and critical examination of LRT both as a theoretical framework that guides teacher preparation and as a theory that guides educational research are discussed while recommendations for language teaching, pedagogy and teacher preparation are put forward.
In this practitioner inquiry, instructors in a teacher preparation program at a research-intensive university address their instructional effectiveness and improvement of student learning outcomes in a Single Course in Multicultural Education (SCME). As part of the inquiry, they conducted a comprehensive literature review of SCMEs. They used the literature synthesis to guide the development of a conceptual framework to inform a final course revision that yielded better student learning outcomes. The literature synthesis, conceptual framework, and course revision promoted the instructional focus on developing students’ knowledge and beliefs before addressing their classroom practices.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.