Teachers working together for English learner success
Description
Education Connections will be the first one-stop site for secondary (grades 6-12) mainstream teachers of Math, English Language Arts (ELA), and Science working with English learners (ELs) to access support and resources around Standards-Based Instruction (SBI) that is EL-relevant.
Located within the online platform, ObaVerse, Education Connections will enhance traditional approaches to professional development (PD) through teacher networks.
Core Activities
Education Connections will emphasize EL-relevant SBI and focus on five core activities:
(1) Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)—shared networks of teachers convened around content areas and grade levels for sharing expertise, resources, and experiences;
(2) An Interactive Resource Repository (IRR)—resources with information on, and for use in, EL-relevant SBI;
(3) Subject Matter Expert Sessions (SMES)—virtual sessions presented by scholars and experts in the areas of SBI and ELs;
(4) Online Professional Development (OLPD)—the opportunity to enroll in mini (five-week) online courses about EL methods and instruction; and,
(5) ObaWorld Implementation (OI)—coaching and support for teachers’ use of online learning with their own students.
Background
Education Connections was first developed under a grant provided to the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has now been extended through funding available under the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) initiative program. Education Connections was designed to provide resources and support for secondary teachers’ implementation of SBI to better meet the language and content learning needs of EL students.
Objectives
As part of the i3 program, the impact of the Education Connections project will be evaluated to determine its impact on teachers and students and its capacity to address key project objectives. Project objectives and expected outcomes from Education Connections include a new, unique approach to PD; improved implementation of standards-based, EL-relevant instruction; increased English language and literacy proficiency among ELs; and, higher English and content test scores among ELs served by Education Connection teachers.
In order to measure these objectives and outcomes, CAL is working directly with experts from SRI International, who will collect data regarding teachers’ involvement in the ObaVerse platform; self-reports of EL-relevant SBI via interviews; conduct brief observations of teachers’ instruction; and, collect student content test scores in Math, ELA, and Science, as well as on English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessments.
Timeline
The length of the i3 grant is four years and will include three groups of teachers who are involved with the project for two-year periods. We hope that the first group will begin in July of 2014 and complete activities in July of 2016. The second group would begin in July 2015 and the third in July 2016.
Requirements of district leadership and teachers
Participation by district leadership will involve participation in recruitment of teachers for the three cohorts during the spring and summer of 2014 and continued support for teachers identified for the three cohorts. In addition, i3 participating districts will need to collaborate with Education Connections staff around data collection and for annual kick-off meetings with each new group of teachers annually.
District Benefits
Mainstream teachers will benefit from further support to develop lessons that address the SBI of ELs in an informed and thoughtful way, with appropriate resources developed specifically to meet their needs. Though some teachers may be better prepared to do this now, they may have limited access to resources and networks of other teachers engaged in the same kinds of instruction and working with similar students. Education Connections provides an opportunity to foster interaction among networks of teachers who will share and leverage expertise and learning experiences to improve EL students’ learning and educational achievement. As a result of participation in Education Connections, students’ ELP and content standardized assessment scores will improve, as will in the longer term, college- and career-readiness.
District Recruitment
Education Connections will need to identify 350 teachers this spring and summer from across the district. The teachers must be Math, ELA, or Science teachers at the 6th-12th grade levels with at least one EL in one class. Teachers will be randomly assigned to one of three groups /cohorts as follows:
· Group 1: 150 teachers, will begin Education Connections in July 2014 and continue to July 2016
· Group 2: 50 teachers, will begin Education Connections in July 2015 and continue to July 2017
· Group 3: 150 teachers, will begin Education Connections in July 2016 and continue to July 2018
Teacher Benefits
· Flexible, online professional development and participation in a district-wide community of teachers working toward the common goal of implementing EL-relevant SBI
· Access to a wide range of online resources via the Interactive Resource Repository
· Webinars with nationally-recognized experts in the field, such as Margarita Calderón and Yong Zhao
· Free, online courses that provide Continuing Education Credits, reflect graduate level coursework and support, and may be applied to professional development needs or an ESL certificate program
· Learning in an online setting that teachers can also use for instruction of their own students, therefore improving their own proficiency for technology integration and STEM-based instruction