Language and Culture Career Ladder Teacher-Training Program

1. Language and Culture Career Ladder Teacher-Training Program Jorge P. Osterling, Ph.D. Sherry L. Steeley, M.A. George Mason University Fairfax, VA Annual VAME Conference October 4, 2003

2. Caminante son tus huellasel camino y nada máscaminante no hay caminose hace camino al andar.Al andar se hace caminoy al volver la vista atrásse ve la senda que nuncase ha de volver a pisar.Caminante no hay caminosino estelas en el mar. “Caminante” Antonio Machado

3. Bilingual Paraeducator Career Ladder Teacher Training Program BIPACAL

4. Today’s Objective • To present preliminary research findings on addressing the academic needs of non-native English speaking bilingual paraeducators enrolled in a teacher education program.

5. What is BIPACAL? BIPACAL is a federally-funded IHE-LEA career ladder partnership which trains bilingual paraeducators as “highly qualified” ESOL teachers.

6. BackgroundProject Goals • Provide local schools divisions with culturally and linguistically diverse teachers to improve the achievement, language, and cultural skills of all students. • Support non-traditional, part-time, adult IHE students in overcoming institutional, linguistic, and cultural barriers to their achievement.

7. Why train bilingual paraeducators to become teachers? • Currently, nearly 90 percent of the teachers in U.S. schools are of white, middle class background; • Over 500,000 linguistically and culturally diverse bilingual paraeducators with higher educational background work in American schools.

8. Motivation Research shows that paraeducator motivation to teach increases in proportion to their length of service in schools (Genzuk & Baca, 1998; Osterling & Buchanan 2003).

9. Virginia ELL … • In 2002 nearly 50,000 English language learners (ELL) received ESOL services; • ELL students spoke over 120 different world languages from Afrikaans to Zulu. • Spanish is the first language of 29,822 of ELL students; followed by Korean, 2,596 students; Vietnamese, 1,994 students; and Arabic, 1741 students. • Source: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/ESL/

10. In Northern Virginia… • The ELL student population in BIPACAL’s three suburban Virginia school divisions is over 31,000. • In Arlington, 41% of the student population is from language minority backgrounds [4,988 ESOL]; • In Fairfax, 22% [20,974 ESOL]; • In Prince William, 6%, a low but significant increase in just three years [5,523 ESOL]. • In Fairfax County, the number non-White students has risen to 74,588 (46 percent of 162,585 students).

11. BIPACAL Student Voices • "I always wanted to become a teacher, but never had the time or the money. NVCC and GMU faculty know their subjects and understand non-traditional students … they understand students who are juggling families and jobs, and they are very willing to work with you if you need extra time or tutoring. They are very accommodating.”

12. BIPACAL’s Commitment: Train Highly Qualified Teachers BIPACAL provides high quality professional development to all future PK-12 teachers.

13. Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001requires school divisions serving limited English proficient students (LEP) to certify that all their teachers working in language instruction educational programs for LEP students are fluent in English and any other language used by the program, including written and oral communication skills. (PL 107-110, 2002 -- Title III section 3116).

14. Highly Qualified Teacher By the end of the 2005-06 school year, all public school teachers will have to be "highly qualified:“ • Have obtained full state certification or passed the state teacher licensing examination; • hold a license to teach in the state; and • not have had a certificate or license requirement waived under emergency, temporary or provisional conditions. Paraprofessionals who have instructional duties must have two years' of college or pass a rigorous state competency examination by January 2006.

15. Challenge • Boosting the Paraeducators’ academic English from the 'intermediate plateau' towards an 'advanced level.' • Prepare them for the TOEFL, PRAXIS-I tests, and professional daily use.

16. BIPACAL’s Approach • Realizing the importance of reaching a high level of English proficiency before students can teach English as a second language, the BIPACAL program initially focused on proficiency skills of all its participants.

17. Initial Assessment: TOEFL Scores • TOEFL scores ranged from a low 430 –elementary proficiency level -- to a high 660 – advanced professional proficiency level four. • The majority of the paraeducators tested operated in the Level 1 to Level 2/2+ range. • Initial results revealed an unacceptable low average score of 555. • A minimum 570 score –which reflects a 2+ limited working proficiency plus level-- is usually required for undergraduate admission and a 600 score –which, reflects the lower end of a 3 general professional proficiency level, is required to work as a graduate assistant.

18. The Academic-English Question: • Which would be the best way to work with these fully-employed/ busy adult students to help them: • Expand their English vocabulary, • Increase their knowledge of the grammatical structures of the English language, and • Perfect their writing and reading skills • Is there such a way that they could eventually become highly qualified ESL/ FL teachers in the United States?

19. Theoretical Relevance • The field of teaching academic-English as a Second Language to professional adults is growing steadily in both scope and sophistication. • As academic English language instruction to adult learners is increasing, particularly career switchers or reentry students -- so is the knowledge of applied linguistics, second language acquisition and effective teaching approaches and methods.

20. Reaching ACTFL Superior Proficiency Level • We posit that the academic English level of all future or current non-native English speaking fully-certified ESL teachers working in American public schools must be, using the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, at a “low” superior level [í.e., General professional proficiency].

21. ACTFL Proficiency GuidelinesRevised 2001 • First published in 1986, the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines are global characterizations of integrated performance in each of the four language skills -- speaking, writing, reading, and listening. • The ACTFL Guidelines are based on the language skill-level descriptors used by the Interagency Language Roundtable and are adapted for use in academic environments.

22. ACTFL Language Skill Level Descriptor Levels are subdivided into low, mid, and high.

23. BIPACAL’s Language Education Component • Necessary time to learn (CALP-level) a foreign language and progress from: • Level "low advanced" to “high advanced" :: 1.5 - 2 years. • Level “high advanced" to "low superior" an additional year. • Transfer issues: "semantic feedback" [e.g., content-form issues; body-language issues]. • On-going literacy development and resynthesis issues (entire range of constructs must be “reassembled”).

24. Language support • Virginia - standards for “highly qualified teachers” were a source of great concern to participants. • Extensive academic language support and test preparation mitigated this perceived obstacle: from BICS to CALP

25. Changes to Initial Program • BIPACAL’s initial component: Teacher-Education • Clearly much more training in academic English skills (i.e., CALP level) and mathematics was required for many of these adult learners • To become fluent in academic English, both spoken and written, and • To pass the State required PRAXIS-I professional assessment in reading, writing, and mathematics skills for beginning teachers.

26. Modification to Original Design • BIPACAL’s initial component: Teacher-Education • Redesign after the first year: New components • (1) Teacher Education • (2.1) Language Training -- Level 0 - Level two • (2.2) Language education -- Level 2+ to Lower Three • (3) School divisions’ commitment to release training/ education time.

27. English Language Academic Support • English Language Institute (Workshops or individual courses) • English Writing Center (Special arrangement for dedicated staff person) • ENGL 302: Advanced Composition (Adapted for bilingual adult learners) • Praxis-I Preparation Workshop (48 hours of essay, grammar, reading skills and strategies).

28. Results • Extensive background knowledge and high motivation of participants accelerated the process of moving from low to high levels of proficiency. • Group collaborative structures further reinforced progress. • Academic English support programs helped achieve meaningful results.

29. In fact… • While some candidates entered with low TOEFL scores, the majority have improved their language skills to a degree sufficient to enable them to meet state-mandated PRAXIS I target scores, a significant accomplishment in light of what researchers denote as cultural and linguistic bias of such standardized instruments (e.g., Flores & Clark, 1997).

30. Ongoing advisory, counseling, and support service In order to assist participants in managing stress, balancing work, family, and academic demands, BIPACAL provides cross cultural counseling services to all participants. This is available for the duration of the program.

31. References • Banks, J. (2001). Multicultural education programs evaluation checklist. In J. Banks (ed.), Cultural diversity and education (4th ed.) (336-344). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. • Burant, T.J (1999). Finding and losing voice: A preservice teacher's experiences in an urban educative practicum. Journal of Teacher Education,50, 209-219. • Flores, B.B. & Clark, E.R. (1997). High stakes testing: Barriers for prospective bilingual teachers. Bilingual Research Journal,21, 335-358. • Genzuk, M., Baca, R. (1998). The paraeducator-to-teacher pipeline: A 5- year retrospective on an innovative teacher preparation program for Latina(os). Education and Urban Society, 31(1), 73-88. • Gonzalez, J.M. (1997). Recruiting and training minority teachers: Student views of the preservice program. Equity & Excellence in Education, 31(1), 56-64. • Osterling, J., Buchanan, K. (2003). Tapping a valuable source for prospective ESOL teachers: Northern Virginia’s school district/University bilingual paraeducator career ladder program (BIPACAL).Manuscript accepted for publication.

32. Pailliotet, A.W. (1997). I'm really quiet: A case study of an Asian language minority preservice teacher's experience. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 675-690. • Sheets, R.H. & Chew, L. (2002) Absent from the research, present in our classrooms: Preparing culturally responsive Chinese American teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 127-141. • Sleeter, C. (2002). Epistemological diversity in research on preservice teacher preparation for historically underserved children. In Secada, W. (ed) Review of Research in Education, 25. Washington DC: American Educational Research Association, 209-49. • Su, Z. (1997) Teaching as a profession and a career: Minority candidates perspectives. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 325-340. • Tellez, K. (1999). Mexican-American preservice teachers and the intransigency of the elementary school curriculum. Teaching and Teacher Education, 15, 555-570.