Summary

The practice: Professional development should be continuous and on-going, involving follow-up and support for further learning, including support from sources external to the school that can provide necessary resources and new perspectives.

• Project was a three-year collaboration among ESL, bilingual, and content area teachers.
• Researchers guided teachers through a process of analyzing standards; focus was on "unpacking" each standard, not on what teachers thought students could or could not do.
• Shifts in perceptions of student abilities and needs led to instruction better designed for the current population.

Partnering with research staff, the teachers involved in this three-year project joined forces to explore standards implementation with ELLs, to build foundational knowledge and relationships, and to establish a critical perspective for the work. Researchers guided teachers through a process of analyzing standards, urging them to focus on the concepts, skills, strategies, materials, and assessments for bringing the standard to life, not to think about their students. This step pushed teachers to concentrate on the subject, not on what their students could or could not do. The researchers also visited each school monthly to individualize professional development for the teachers. The result was a discovery process in which project teachers began to reveal their beliefs and practices regarding ELLs and standards. Over time, perspectives shifted and teachers designed instruction with the needs of the current student population in mind.

This site also exemplifies the following practice(s):

• Professional development should involve teachers in the identification of what they need to learn and in the development of the learning experiences in which they will be involved.  

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu