A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Model Strategies in Bilingual Education: Professional Development - 1995

Chapter 2 Principles of Effectiveness and Promising Practices

The content and processes of teacher education are shaped by the nature of the programs in which candidates will teach. A good professional development experience is one that prepares participants to teach effectively in light of their schools' educational mission and the resources and needs of their students. Recent research on pedagogy and thoughtful consideration of the proper roles of national and community values have expanded understanding of the educational process. On one hand, students' hard work on worthwhile lessons is the best predictor of achievement; increasing evidence shows that certain instructional conditions and practices generate more achievement than others, across settings and subjects. On the other hand, in some settings, special adaptations are necessary to bridge students' actual resources and the resource assumptions taken for granted in the mainstream classroom; also, subject matter may shape methods in distinctive ways--approaches that work in literature may not work in math or social studies. Furthermore, competing values in some areas dictate different choices among otherwise equally defensible educational goals. Productive programs for LEP students share some qualities with productive programs for other students, and they are distinguished by additional qualities that take into account students' language resources and requirements. Teachers of LEP students must have both the competencies demanded by mainstream students and those especially adapted for English language learners. The first section of this chapter briefly describes an education model that weaves together research-based principles of pedagogy and a value orientation that prizes preservation of the nation's language and culture resources, while promoting acquisition of English. The rest of the chapter illustrates how projects use particular recruitment strategies, teacher preparation and professional development activities, and school context features to create a workforce able to implement this model for LEP students.
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[Chapter 1 Introduction: Accommodating Language Diversity in Schools]

[Promoting Students' Academic Success]