Amy J. Heineke

Opening doors for bilingual students: Recommendations for building linguistically responsive schools

In this article, we outline the necessary action steps for schools to improve the achievement of bilingual students. We review, summarize, and utilize the pertinent scholarly literature to make suggestions for school-wide, collaborative efforts to support the achievement of bilingual learners through linguistically responsive pedagogy and practice. Our research-based recommendations include the need for school actors to negotiate language policy and mandates, lay the necessary ideological foundations, build effective school structures and systems, and foster meaningful collaboration with families and communities. When teachers, administrators, counselors, families, and community members work together, schools can improve to promote the social, cultural, linguistic, and academic achievement of bilingual students.

Closing the Classroom Door and the Achievement Gap Teach for America Alumni Teachers’ Appropriation of Arizona Language Policy

This qualitative study explored Teach for America (TFA) alumni teachers’ discourse on Arizona language policy, conducted with eight teachers in the Phoenix metropolitan area who received their professional teacher preparation from TFA, a national organization that uses alternative paths to certification to place teachers in low-income schools. During the 2009-2010 school year, we investigated how TFA alumni teachers described the state-mandated English-only language policy, which requires all labeled English language learners (ELLs) to enroll in English language development (ELD) classrooms for 4 hr of daily skill-based English instruction. In addition to their open evaluation and critique of the language policy, teachers’ discourse revealed language policy appropriation, as the teachers tweaked and stretched the language policy directives to match their ideology, pedagogy, and classroom context. Findings from our discourse analysis of the interview data demonstrate that the teachers’ discourse reflected their TFA preparation regarding recognizing the flaws in the educational system and taking action to make change within the four walls of their urban classrooms. The research holds implications for language education reform through recognizing the active role of the teacher in language policy formation and implementation.

Teaching, Learning, and Leading: Preparing Teachers as Educational Policy Actors

Within the current federal, state, and local contexts of educational reform, teachers must be recognized as central actors in policy work, but rarely do we explicitly consider preparing teachers to become policy actors. Understanding these implications for teacher education, we investigate teacher candidates’ learning of the complexity and dynamism of educational policy through a field-based teacher preparation program. Situated across four unique school contexts in the diverse neighborhoods of Chicago, Illinois, we qualitatively study the cases of eight teacher candidates as they explore policy in practice. We found that candidates developed enduring understandings about policy as complex, situated, and multilayered, as well as the central role of the teacher. This learning was mediated by multiple facets of the field-based module, including readings, panels, and observations. Implications center on the use of field-based teacher education to support policy-related learning and development.

Re-Envisioning the Role of Universities in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Community Partnerships for 21st-Century Learning.

Despite contrasting views on the overlap of early childhood education and teacher education, opportunities abound for expanding the role of early childhood educators in broader teacher education discourse. University-based early childhood education and kindergarten-through-grade-12 teacher education share purposes, philosophies, and resources that should be explored to more effectively address the needs of diverse young children and their families. Community partnerships and a shift toward community-based teacher preparation present a context and opportunity for exploring the overlap of these two historically separate fields. In this article, we present a framework for collaborative, field-based early childhood teacher preparation, situating birth-though-grade-12 teacher education in diverse community contexts and involving school and community personnel to achieve universal 21st-century goals for the teaching and learning of young children.

Dialoging about English Learners: Preparing Teachers through Culturally Relevant Literature Circles.

The author describes how culturally relevant children’s literature allowed teachers and teacher candidates to explore the lived realities of diverse students. Through the author’s qualitative investigation of 23 literature discussions of undergraduate and graduate students across five academic semesters, the author found that texts written by culturally and linguistically diverse authors gave participants new ways to articulate ideas and beliefs about English learners. The author discovered specific factors that opened or closed opportunities for dialog and learning in literature circles, including implementation of reader response strategies and various participant groupings. Results hold implications for preparing and supporting teachers to recognize and value the rich diversity of English learners in classrooms.

Negotiating Language Policy and Practice: Teachers of English Learners in an Arizona Study Group

Arizona language policy now requires English learners (ELs) to enroll in English language development (ELD) classrooms for 4 hr of skill-based, English-only instruction. In this article, I describe Arizona teachers’ interpretation and negotiation of language policy and practice during this time of change to more restrictive mandates. I conducted this qualitative case study with a teacher study group comprised of six ELD teachers and one instructional coach from an urban elementary school during the first semester of language policy implementation. Using discourse analysis of individual interviews, study group dialogue, and institutional documentation, I investigated teachers’ talk as they grappled with restrictive policy mandates and effective classroom practice. Findings indicated that teachers negotiated the cultural models inherent in the institutional policy in the study group setting. In the contemporary context of restrictive educational policies, implications for stakeholders center on professional and collaborative support for educators.

After the Two-Year Commitment: A Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry of Teach For America Teacher Retention and Attrition

Teach For America (TFA), an organization that places college graduates as teachers in low-income areas for 2 years, contributes to teacher attrition. With this mixed methods study in one urban region, we investigated teachers’ professional decisions at the end of 2 years. Respondents fell into categories in relation to the organization’s 2-year commitment, including leavers, lingerers, and lasters, and descriptors related to remaining at placement school or relocating to another school. Historical, environmental, and external factors impacted teachers’ professional decisions related to retention and attrition. Findings provide insight to improve retention of TFA teachers.

Preparing Globally Minded Teachers through the Incorporation of the International Baccalaureate.

In this article, we describe the initiative of one universitys teacher education program to incorporate the International Baccalaureate Teacher Certificate. Responding to the growing number of public and private International Baccalaureate World Schools in urban and suburban settings in our region, the program aims to prepare teachers to meet the needs of diverse learners within a rigorous and global approach to curriculum and instruction. Writing for teacher educators considering the integration of this internationally minded teaching and learning framework, we explain the redesign of our teacher preparation program that was intended to target and integrate the principles and practices of the International Baccalaureate.

Linguistically Responsive Professional Development: An Apprenticeship Model.

Across the globe, schools serve students from increasingly diverse backgrounds, including those still learning the dominant language. But schools have struggled to maintain pace with the changing population, resulting in a lack of prepared teachers and subsequent gaps in student achievement. In this article, we share a theoretically grounded and research-based approach to build capacity in linguistically diverse schools through multi-faceted professional development (PD) efforts with teachers and leaders. Based on a 3-year project that successfully built foundations, structures, and supports for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in 32 urban schools in the United States, we provide readers with pertinent foci and facets to design and implement linguistically responsive practice and PD.

Language matters: developing educators’ expertise for English learners in linguistically diverse communities

ABSTRACT The population of English learners (ELs) continues to grow in schools across the United States and around the world. In this article, we share one urban university’s collaborative approach to building educational capacity for cultural and linguistic diversity through professional development efforts that brought together stakeholders from classrooms, schools, communities, and districts. This grant-funded project aimed to build educator expertise to effectively support and positively influence students’ language development and disciplinary learning. Grounded in sociocultural theory, we used an apprenticeship framework of teacher development, strategically planning and implementing collaborative capacity building efforts to foster learning across individual, interpersonal, and institutional planes. In this paper, we share the results of professional development efforts across three years of this project, drawing from observation, interview, and focus group data. Findings indicate that classroom-, school-, and district-level educators developed knowledge of discipline-specific language development, pedagogical skills for effective EL teaching and learning, and leadership abilities to positively shape institutional responses to their culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. Implications focus on fostering teacher professionalism through bottom-up development of EL-specific expertise and expanded opportunities for leadership.