0.7 Gallegos, c., & Wise, d. (september 2011). leadership for  (Page 13/18)

Another indication that schools have a long way to go is that reclassification rates remain unchanged in spite of growing achievement. This may be due to the criteria and teacher judgment, but presumably higher achievement should be paired with increased language proficiency. The lack of a relationship between the two implies that the criteria for reclassification may be questionable. Furthermore, while schools may be seeing increased achievement due to curriculum and instruction changes related to the content standards, curriculum and instruction changes related to language development may not be as wide-spread or as effectively implemented. The importance of these findings cannot be understated for school leaders who are working to close the achievement gap and to promote equity for all students.

The need for professional development

Not only do leaders and teachers need training in teaching and assessing a second language, they specifically need training that will help them to develop an understanding of how to bridge the gap between conversational and academic language development. It is alarming that 60% or more of all English learners in the nation do not progress beyond the intermediate level (Clark, 2009). This fact alone indicates that the instruction being provided for these students may not adequately address their academic and language needs.

Indeed, developing language at the intermediate level indicates that educators do a good job of developing conversational vocabulary and language structures, but it also indicates that these students are not developing an adequate understanding of academic vocabulary and language structures typical of those found in textbooks, higher level course work, and assessments. As a result, many EL students may never be reclassified, and some may even be inappropriately placed in special education programs because of their lack of academic progress.

Leaders need to look beyond growing scores in the data to examine subgroups and determine if subgroups are actually making an adequate level of growth. This must be followed by an examination of possible reasons for the gap, including both cultural and instructional implications (Johnson, 2002; Lindsey, et al., 2005). Only then can a course of professional development be identified that is likely to address gaps in student achievement.

Recommendations for practice

Schools and the leaders and teachers in those schools must take a long hard look at the programs they provide to make sure that the instruction English learners receive is culturally relevant and is both aligned to the standards and to the specific language forms and functions necessary to ensure these students have the academic language skills needed to fully benefit from academic content instruction. If the data reveal a large number of EL students not progressing beyond the intermediate level, then resources and instructional methodologies could be explored to meet the specific needs of these students. Planning and implementing methodology that supports academic language fluency could be supported through professional development and partnerships with schools that have already achieved these results.