English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers are more likely than the overall teacher population to seek specific professional development on changing curriculum and how to interact with parents and families, according to newly analyzed survey data.
The EdWeek Research Center administered an online survey in September and October to a nationally representative sample of more than 2,500 teachers, asking what it would take to boost their morale in the workplace. The survey found that ESL educators were more likely than the overall teacher population to work in urban, high-poverty, and Hispanic-majority schools, particularly in the Northeast and South.
These educators were also more than twice as likely as the overall teacher population to seek professional development to help respond to curriculum shifts in their district or state. ESL educators are three times more likely to want PD on interacting with parents and families.
The findings add to the conversation on teacher preparation and experiences serving the growing English-learner population.
New survey data from the RAND Corp. found that about half of all surveyed teachers serving English learners feel unprepared to help these students as they achieve English-language proficiency.
ESL teachers say schools should invest in their PD
Curriculum materials are often misaligned with the needs of English learners, according to teachers surveyed by the RAND Corp.
It’s something Ann Ioannides, a middle school ESL teacher at Seattle public schools, recently felt with the new English/language arts curriculum for her school.
Ioannides, who participated in the EdWeek Research Center survey last fall, hopes to get more PD on how to work with the new curriculum so she can better support her students.
She is also among ESL teachers independently seeking out PD to help her students.
“I myself decided to go get my master’s in special education just to be able to meet the needs of my students who are not progressing, especially the students who we term, long-term ELLs,” Ioannides said. Long-term English learners are students who remain classified as English learners for five or more years. These students, as with most English learners, are often U.S.-born citizens.
Some ESL teachers not only pay out-of-pocket for ongoing training and PD but also are expected to offer PD on how to work with English learners to content-area teachers , said Amber Anderson, a high school ESL teacher at Long Branch public schools in New Jersey who also participated in the EdWeek Research Center survey.
“ESL teachers, they want to do the best for their students. They want to provide their students with the best strategies and ways for them to achieve on the standardized tests as well, and they want them to become proficient in English,” Anderson said. “They do seek out professional development, and oftentimes they pay for it themselves.”
One way to boost ESL teachers’ morale in this regard, other than covering expenses for PD, Anderson said, is to give these teachers more autonomy to design their own curriculum, making it more culturally relevant and aligned to English learners’ needs.
While federal grants exist to help schools partner with universities and nonprofit organizations for teacher training and development in working with English learners, federal policy changes have threatened these programs this year.
ESL teachers say family engagement requires dedicated resources
Alex Luciano, a 2nd grade bilingual teacher at the Central Islip school district in Long Island, N.Y., was at first surprised at the EdWeek Research Center finding that ESL teachers sought out more PD on interacting with parents and families.
At his school, Luciano, who participated in the EdWeek Research Center survey, regularly communicates with parents about where their children are in their academic and linguistic progress.
“It’s a very constant interaction on my part,” said Luciano, adding that he thinks all teachers should engage in this level of communication “even [for] my kids who are monolingual.”
Even so, family communication gets more complicated as the number of languages and the diversity of family backgrounds increase.
In Seattle, Ioannides works with three general categories of families: recent immigrants where the parents are sometime illiterate, rendering translated written communication less useful; more established immigrant parents who nevertheless still need guidance in navigating the U.S. education system; and parents with advanced degrees on sabbatical or in postdoc programs at the nearby University of Washington who regularly engage with their children’s teachers.
On top of this, families in her school speak at least 10 different languages, she added.
The Seattle district does offer translation services, the lack of which often is a barrier for family engagement, both Luciano and Ioannides said. But even the availability of those services isn’t always enough in Ioannides’ case.
She and her colleagues have tried meeting families in their neighborhoods to build trust, but she said that approach is difficult to maintain.
“As a teacher, for me to go once a week to speak to the parents is really difficult, and they still need translation services at my school,” she said.
Ioannides hopes that more investment in formal family engagement staff and programs could help, but it’s a difficult request amid budget cuts.
