instruction in the student’s first language in the earlier years of the program.
These program models and accompanying structures hope to change the pattern of failure for bilingual and dual-language students. Yet, in order to reap the benefits of a program model, teachers must have the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for developing and implementing an effective educational experience that balances all the needs of students and the program.
While some program models may explicitly include the goals of bilingualism and biliteracy, grade-level academic achievement across two languages, and sociocultural competence, other models of bilingual education focus simply on students’ English literacy and overall grade-level academic achievement. And while more options create greater possibilities for a better future, they also require schools to develop their staff expertise. Few teacher preparation programs truly build the expertise that is essential to teacher success with bilingual and dual-language students.
According to the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality in 2009–2010, twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have certification requirements for a teaching certificate in bilingual education (López, 2014). However, many teachers are still not prepared for the realities of meeting the diverse needs they encounter. This means that even if teachers are fluent in all languages that their students know, they may lack an understanding of the pedagogy, authentic literacy development, instructional planning, and other expertise they need to be successful bilingual and dual-language educators.
In truth, even as program model design and effectiveness remain of critical importance, one of the greatest barriers to student success is the lack of qualified teachers for bilingual and dual-language programs. In the 2017–2018 school year, thirty-two states reported teacher shortages of bilingual and dual-language teachers (Liebtag & Haugen, 2015). Shortages stem from a number of challenging issues. One such issue is that schools ask these teachers to engage in long hours of translating materials, and they often need to modify curricular resources that were not designed for bilingual and dual-language students after having been told they simply have to make it work.
The extra responsibilities of bilingual and dual-language teachers can make the job very challenging. This challenge is only exacerbated by the fact that these teachers often work in relative isolation. They must find ways to effectively design instruction without collaborative planning with their peers and meet school standards of success with little or no support. Bilingual and dual-language teachers are in particular danger of burning out early, and talented, caring teachers may avoid the career path due to the expected heavy workload in absence of the emotional support of other educators.
Simple coaching support (from other teachers, school-based instructional leaders, and district-level supports) could not only provide bilingual and dual-language teachers with strategies, time, and materials to teach more effectively but also with collegial respect for their work that reduces low morale (Harris & Sandoval-Gonzalez, 2017).
In an attempt to address the current and impending teacher shortages, many states have tried to offer other means of staffing these programs. Strategies to encourage bilingual and dual-language teaching careers include “creating alternative certification pathways, establishing partnerships with other countries to identify teachers with appropriate partner language skills, [and] increasing recruitment efforts” (López, 2014). These strategies have helped get bilingual and dual-language instructors into schools. However, because they lack the preservice education provided through more traditional certification paths, they need intensive support through classroom observation and coaching to help them be effective in the classroom.
These teachers—often the youngest and least experienced ones to enter the field—need guidance and support to continually build their capacity. As new teachers, they actively want to be part of an education community that learns and grows together in meaningful ways. In order to provide that, education leaders must be well-versed in the benefits and advantages of quality programs. They must also accept and be prepared to leverage the opportunity to observe and coach teachers who arguably need support the most, regardless of whether they speak the language of instruction (Harris & Sandoval-Gonzalez, 2017).
The Definition of a Coach
In this book, I use the term coach broadly to identify people who might wear a number of hats, which is often the case in education. Most important, a coach is not defined by a title. A coach can be a principal, an instructional or a dual-language specialist, a grade-level leader, or a coordinator. More than an official job title, it is what educators practice—how they leverage knowledge, skills, modes of communication, and so on—during their interactions with each teacher that helps us understand who the coach should be. This book gives coaches and prospective coaches the information and tools they need to enter classrooms and improve teacher practice, which in turn leads to higher student achievement.
By providing critical tools for coaching, this book develops coaches’ ability to build relationships defined by open communication, so the coach and teacher can work to improve the most high-leverage skills, strategies, and practices. It provides coaches with a process they can use to help improve the confidence of the teachers they work with, helping them use objective evidence they receive from observation to more accurately determine their own strengths and opportunities to improve their practice. Finally, guiding questions and tools will help coaches build confidence in their own abilities to fairly and consistently consider what is unique and different about bilingual and dual-language classrooms and work with teachers to implement effective strategies.
In This Book
I used a number of contexts as guides in developing this book. The work I have done with hundreds of coaches, building administrators, district leaders, and educators in a range of program models helped me shape the challenges and needed supports into a schema. In addition, I referenced theoretical frameworks from dual-language education, bilingual education, various evaluation instruments, various coaching models, and several change models in developing the observation and feedback cycle and the action-planning templates embedded in every chapter.
Part 1 includes chapters 1–3 and answers the question, What essential skills or perspectives do coaches need to focus the observation and feedback cycle into continuous opportunities to transform bilingual and dual-language instruction? Chapter 1 introduces the goals, challenges, and keys for creating a fair observation and feedback cycle when observing instruction that leverages another language. It also provides an overview of the unique stages and steps included in the observation and feedback cycle. Chapter 2 explores the eight goals of the observation and feedback cycle and theoretical frameworks coaches need to identify effective practices within the context of the program and school mission and vision. Finally, chapter 3 helps coaches distinguish what effective feedback looks, sounds, and feels like when it leads to action and improved student outcomes.
Part 2 includes chapters 4–7 and answers the question, What are the four stages of the observation and feedback cycle, and how can teachers consistently and correctly engage in this cycle if they don’t speak the language of instruction? Chapter 4 describes the changes in mindset teachers and coaches must establish to lay the foundation for the observation and feedback cycle.
