Beyond the toolkit : lessons on implementation from a comparative study of a hybrid professional development for teachers of English learners
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Students classified as English learners (ELs) typically exhibit low academic achievement, relative to their peers who only speak English. One possible reason why ELs continue to underperform is because their teachers often receive meager training in strategies to support ELs' concurrent linguistic development and content acquisition. Scholars have addressed this concern by studying how specific professional development (PD) programs impact ELs' test scores and other numeric indicators of academic achievement. This dissertation diverges from current approaches to the study of PD for teachers of ELs by taking an systems-oriented approach. It considers PD context rather than content, with the goal of identifying factors relevant to the implementation of a hybrid PD for teachers of ELs. To that end, I conducted two rounds of semi-structured interviews (n=41) with 24 stakeholders (5 administrators, 5 coaches, and 14 teachers) from four schools, who all participated in the same hybrid PD. Interviews revealed that myriad factors interacted to influence PD implementation. At the organization level, coupling between the hybrid PD and routines of alignment and teacher supports impacted implementation. How stakeholders perceived the coach role—and the degree to which those perceptions were aligned—was also important. Finally, implementation was impacted by teacher motivation and, to an even greater extent, self-efficacy. Ultimately, this dissertation seeks to support educators to develop systems of PD for teachers of ELs that are sensitive to sources of organizational variation, and that take into account coach and teacher-level variables. Attention to these contextual factors may increase PD effectiveness and, accordingly, improve outcomes for students classified as ELs.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2021; ©2021 |
| Publication date | 2021; 2021 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Altavilla, Jennifer Michele |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Solano Flores, Guillermo |
| Thesis advisor | Solano Flores, Guillermo |
| Thesis advisor | Bromley, Patricia, (Assistant professor of education) |
| Thesis advisor | Silverman, Rebecca D |
| Degree committee member | Bromley, Patricia, (Assistant professor of education) |
| Degree committee member | Silverman, Rebecca D |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Graduate School of Education |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Jennifer M. Altavilla. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Graduate School of Education. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2021. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/cf749my9471 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2021 by Jennifer Michele Altavilla
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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