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 5 Policy Implications

The experiences of these projects and the lessons of research to date offer insight into the factors that nurture projects' success and the ways policy decisions affect their productivity. High standards, financial support, stability, a systemic vision, collaboration between districts and higher education, and preservation of language resources are important factors in the formula for professional development projects that foster the academic success of LEP students.

High Professional Standards

Educating LEP students demands a high degree of professional competence

Professional associations of teachers of LEP students not only embrace the ambitious standards proposed by groups such as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the National Council for Accreditation in Teacher Education, they add their own criteria for excellence. Proficiency in written and oral forms of two languages, skill in stimulating students' language development, and ability to integrate their work into the larger pattern of school programs are among the recommended competencies. Although rumors of pointless "Mickey Mouse" certification courses may persist elsewhere, participants in the projects we visited routinely commented that their studies were challenging and highly relevant to the demands of their work. Even in the school where the staff had undertaken an exhausting program of 180 hours of graduate coursework and learned far more than they needed to pass the certification test--but just enough to do a good job in the classroom--teachers expressed no regret. Instead, they commented on the usefulness of the experience, covering theoretical or philosophical topics and methods and materials of obvious and immediate relevance to teaching. Across projects, many teachers and candidates demonstrated notable skill and conceptual depth for their levels of experience, and classroom observations confirmed that such skill was required to promote student success.

Rigorous competency testing stimulates effort, but raises concerns about validity and reliability for some populations

Advocates for equity are properly skeptical about gateway assessments and requirements that seem to fall especially hard on minority candidates. Both the values and priorities shaping the content of assessments and the technical adequacy of the tests themselves are subjects of considerable debate. However, successful projects concentrate on helping prospective teachers meet high standards, taking advantage of all available resources to keep them enrolled until their steady progress brings them to the appropriate levels of competence. Concerned professionals demand that benchmark tests prove their value with respect to establishing proficiency, but there was little evidence that high standards themselves were regarded as the enemy of advancement. Limited budgets with short funding cycles claim that role, and federal dollars help keep the enemy at bay.

The Role of Federal Support

Short-term funding generates ongoing and debilitating project strain

Even in communities taking financial responsibility for all students, local resources are depleting rapidly and federal dollars are scarce, although the need for services grows at a rapid pace. By the time a project has been operating long enough to reach full productivity and acquire a reputation that attracts good candidates--and recommendations for inclusion in reports such as this one--major funding sources may dry up, regardless of its record. Except for the few supported entirely by district revenues--such as Dade County's, which is driven by a judicial consent decree--projects scramble every year to replenish coffers. Most recruitment projects and many continuing education projects visited for this study have no assurance of survival from one year to the next, even if they are highly successful. Federal grants of appropriate size and duration can and do enable some projects to make a significant contribution to developing a competent professional workforce for LEP students.

The Contributions of Project Team Stability

Project success often depends on the continuing involvement of local experts

Experienced project teams are efficient and productive. In the face of funding instability, some projects manage to endure through the efforts of committed professionals, who keep work on track, expenses manageable, and bills paid. At almost every site, a cadre of educational leaders makes sure that whatever professional development can be done is done, and done well, despite the irregular flow and nature of resources. The work of these leaders multiplies the effects of project dollars. However, the potential impact of investments in professional development can be undermined when local practices are unfriendly to staff stability. Gifted administrators and teachers receive lateral transfers apparently without regard for program continuity in either the sending or the receiving school. At one site, a principal with exceptional credentials stays in a poor district where administrative salaries are at least 25 percent lower than the adjacent district in order to pursue her vision of effectiveness. The state funding formula, found to be unconstitutionally inequitable, has not yet been adjusted to reduce this kind of disparity. Teachers who trained with teams of colleagues in methods of ethnographic interviewing to develop the faculty's understanding and appreciation of the school's community resources were transferred to schools in other communities as part of heedless reshuffling activities. Some school-based professionals cling tenaciously to assignments in project sites, but little in district organization seems to support their commitment.

For university-based staff, the cost of constancy may be high. A knowledgeable, competent, and productive bilingual program manager at one university was denied tenure on the grounds of limited scholarly productivity--despite the fact that many schools in the state and departments in the university were staffed by the beneficiaries of her expertise. Her administrative contract must be reviewed and renegotiated annually. Key personnel in at least three projects reduced their involvement dramatically in the 1993-94 school year to prepare for tenure review. One doctoral-level university-based professional who is the central resource for an innovative program in a national network is supported entirely by external funds.

Although individual ambition and opportunity will always create unexpected changes in staffing, some projects seem to prosper in part because the host institutions support and reward the continuing involvement of key staff, therefore optimizing project impact. Elsewhere, the absence of institutional commitment coupled with uncertain funding result in high turnover in frontline positions; seasoned judgment remains the prize of the few willing and able to sacrifice advancement and security in order to provide stable leadership.

A Systemic Vision

Integrating new ideas and practices across content and roles strengthens learning

Among the projects in this study, the coherence of educational programming seemed to improve effectiveness. For example, teachers learning to adapt Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) to boost student literacy in Spanish and English used the same lesson structures in both languages and integrated reading, writing, and oral communication activities within a block of time scheduled every day. Teachers met regularly as a study group to discuss implementation and to enhance their knowledge of related professional issues through shared reading. Several professional development projects were integrated into Title I schoolwide projects, which were in turn tied to district or state education frameworks. Even when projects did not involve every teacher, intern, or tutor in a school, the use of a school, district, or state guideline as a reference point focused participants' attention on the practical applications of their learning.

In San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Fresno, principals, teachers, and interns often attended the same courses, lectures, and/or conferences. As a result, coaching and supervising could be and was related to shared conceptions of sound professional practice. For example, in San Antonio one principal asked each teacher to turn in three samples of student writing with the lesson plans to be reviewed for the coming week. Because they had learned together about good strategies for teaching writing (in Spanish and English), the principal and teachers could communicate clearly about what the work in the writing samples implied. In Los Angeles, teachers and students attended a series of workshops on how to create effective mentoring situations, and project leaders followed up with onsite discussions with participants about the progress of their work. In Fresno, shared coursework in strategies stimulating language development, hands-on science, and cooperative learning made professional exchanges among teachers and between supervisors and teachers crisp, focused, and helpful.

Coordinating activities and responsibilities weaves professional development into the fabric of professional life. Scheduling professional development activities during release time, after school, or on Saturdays enabled projects to involve working teachers in their programs. Formal and informal arrangements among institutions allow teaching assistants to flex their working hours so that they can attend classes, and high school tutors or future teachers groups can engage in enrichment activities. Offering concurrent sessions for participants and their families brought families together to plan for the project's success. Activities at the margins of life are soon pared off in the face of competing demands. When the content of learning is tied to real work, time for lessons is scheduled as conveniently as circumstances permit, and personal support systems are recruited to the task, program retention prospers and participants reach high standards.

Effective projects use integration across content and roles, shared experiences, and thoughtful scheduling to make learning accessible, and they tie project content and methods to larger reform efforts in schools, districts, and states.

Partnerships among Local Education Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education

LEAs and IHEs make powerful partners

A notable characteristic of every project in the study is the extensive collaboration between local education agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs). As in any coming together of educators, a lot of teaching goes on, but it is not at all a one-way proposition. Colleges and universities give of their riches: subject matter and pedagogical expertise, project design, cross-site fertilization, new ideas and materials, and college credit. And schools give of theirs: insight about the nature of problems, what can be done and how to do it, feedback on the adequacy of plans and materials, generous investments of time in trying new approaches, and a willingness to be learners as well as teachers. Sometimes higher education comes up with ideas or approaches that school-based personnel do not have the time or inclination to think of; ethnographic interviewing, for example, with its labor-intensive procedures, is a strategy that perhaps only an anthropologist could love. However, not only did the first cadre of teacher/ethnographers in the Funds of Knowledge project ultimately embrace this technique because of its tremendous payoff in parent/teacher collaboration, but other teachers and other districts have begun clamoring for the training.

On the other hand, schools sometimes come up with their own ideas or approaches and seek out partners in higher education. When Balderas Elementary opened its doors to a diverse student body, the faculty recognized that intensive professional development was the best way to meet its needs. The school and the nearby campus of California State University--known already for its creative responses to school needs--developed, first, a plan that wed the school's agenda to the university's mission; second, a financing scheme that capitalized on several modest sources of funding; and, third, a schedule that was demanding but manageable. When districts in the San Antonio area adopted strategic plans featuring site-based management and shared decisionmaking, the university created a program that cultivated proficiency in both bilingual education and educational leadership. Graduates understand how their work environment shapes their practice, and they know how to help make an environment that has desirable effects. Projects in this study made the most of policies and funding to generate productive partnerships among district and higher education personnel. To be sure, the sides battle over content, stubbornly defend their positions, and struggle with different views of relevance and priority. However, they seem to come up with sturdy arrangements that reflect deserved mutual respect.

The Importance of Language Resources

Communities benefit when existing language resources are preserved

The benefits of cultivating literacy in English and the student's home language take at least three forms. First, as Europeans have always known and as we are learning under the rapidly evolving consequences of the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement, bilingualism can be a major economic asset. Permeable trade borders have increased the opportunities for border-town entrepreneurs and provided incentives for workers in many industries on both sides of the border with Mexico to learn the language of their new colleagues or customers. The 75 percent of the language minority population whose home language is Spanish can realize immediate benefit from their home language in the near future.

Second, in this nation of newcomers, there are always families where English is not yet spoken. Historically, under these circumstances some older family members have led productive lives without learning much English. Such families have the responsibility of raising their children, a job they, more than anyone else, are best qualified for. When children lose their home language in the process of learning English--a common and well-documented occurrence--they also lose access to the support and guidance of their families. This in turn limits productive engagement within the larger community--finishing school, finding a job, and developing and fulfilling career ambitions. To choose paths toward English acquisition that predictably cause home language loss is to put language minority children at great peril, to make of each a kind of orphan.

Third, a growing body of evidence suggests that the mental gymnastics associated with acquiring proficiency in two languages have positive effects on some aspects of general intelligence. In carefully controlled studies, children showed cognitive advantages stemming from their development of proficiency in two languages, which generally meant adding a new language to their repertoire. Furthermore, no studies showed negative cognitive effects from deliberate efforts to cultivate bilingualism rather than replace the first language with a second. (Hakuta, 1985, summarizes his work and others' related to these points.) Research to date indicates that adopting strategies to preserve children's home language resources while adding proficiency in English supports family membership, contributes to later economic opportunity, and enhances intellectual ability. Although there can be no question that learning English must be a high priority in an English-dominant country, the evidence suggests that substantial benefit accrues to individuals--and hence the communities that count them as members--from investments in bilingualism made in the context of the mission of public education.

Global markets and increasing language diversity in this country make it valuable for English speakers to add a non-English language to their repertoire

Knowledge of a second language has a longstanding history of being a hallmark of an educated person. Currently, other economic and social incentives have motivated educators and policy makers to recommend adding acquisition of proficiency in a non-English language to the National Education Goals. Studies of two-way bilingual education indicate that both those acquiring English and those acquiring another language can benefit from the experience in a number of ways.

Conclusion

The experiences of projects visited in this study suggest that the goal of cultivating a highly qualified instructional workforce for students with limited English proficiency is advanced by policies and guidelines that:

These projects chose approaches that prepare teachers to engage LEP students in interesting and valuable academic programs while adding English to their language repertoires. The projects appealed to and nurtured the cultural pride of teacher candidates from language minority communities, cultivated teachers' high achievement in substantive and pedagogical arenas, and promoted development of school-and district-based professional learning communities. The success of projects such as these enables schools to provide all children with the education they need to participate productively in community life.
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