A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Helping Hispanic Students Reach High Academic Standards, December 2000

Building Teacher and Organizational Capacity to
Serve Hispanic Students

“Probably nothing within a school has more impact on students in terms of skill development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior than the personal and professional growth of the teacher.” —Barth, 1990

High-quality instruction and student achievement depend on well-educated, thoughtful teachers and administrators who have the support they need to grow professionally (Elmore & Burney, 1997; Rueda, 1998). Leaders in educational research have suggested that “each dollar spent on improving teachers’ qualifications nets greater gains in student learning than another use of an education dollar” (Darling-Hammond & Rustique-Forrester, 1997). This concern about quality is especially relevant for students with limited English proficiency, who are often taught by teachers with little expertise in second language development. For example, almost 40 percent of classes with a quarter to a half of ELL students are taught by teachers who do not have the requisite skills and knowledge in that area (NCES 1994). This problem can be addressed through professional development.

Recent studies, including those on implementing standards-based reforms, demonstrate that effective professional development is multidimensional. It begins in preservice programs, where aspiring teachers acquire the substantive foundations of curriculum content and pedagogy as well as professional values. It continues in schools, which support teachers’ learning in many formal and informal ways. Additions to and changes in practice that improve student learning come from ongoing professional development experiences in which teacher teams and whole school communities participate. Such experiences not only include courses and workshops—traditional fare—but also opportunities for teachers to reflect on teaching practice, discuss students’ work, and address issues relevant to the immediate school context (Calderón, 1999; Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Little, 1993, 1996; Reyes et al., 1999).

Teachers in schools serving large numbers of Hispanic students, both those who are fluent in English and those who are learning it, in particular benefit from a purposeful and comprehensive approach to professional development (August & Hakuta, 1997; Calderón, 1999; Gonzalez & Darling-Hammond, 1995; Reyes et al., 1999). Professional development is essential for all educators, but can be especially important in schools and districts that have not traditionally served many—or any—Hispanic students, but are now seeing an influx of such students. Hispanic students share the basic educational needs of all students, but they may also face special challenges. Helping such students may require additional teacher skills in such areas as:

Hispanic students constitute a significant subset of the migrant student population, which sometimes introduces another set of educational and sociocultural factors that must be addressed to ensure academic success. Children from families with distinctive cultural identities, home languages other than English, and working conditions different from middle-class norms provide their children with resources that may not be well-matched to school expectations. Helping students and their families achieve academic success and providing experiences that lead to learning call for special professional skills and ongoing critical reflection about how best to apply them.

Enhancing professional competence requires restructuring organizational arrangements in schools. Teachers learn not simply as the result of a workshop or a course, but by developing judgment about how to apply new skills and knowledge in particular situations. Effective support for professional development is evident in scheduling and staffing that permit coaching, conversation, and individual and collective reflection on how to make recommended practices serve students better.

 

Title I and Title VII Support High-Quality Professional Development

Title I and Title VII, as well as other ESEA programs with which they could be coordinated, advocate comprehensive approaches to professional development and coordinated, programmatic efforts in education reform programs, including those serving Hispanic students and English-language learners. Under the law, Title I and Title VII programs are expected to organize their activities to serve students efficiently and effectively. Title VII funds can be combined with Title I resources to support schoolwide programs, which may increase in-class collaboration among mainstream, ESL, and bilingual teachers. Title VII provisions stress the importance of training all educators to serve ELL students effectively.

 

Professional Development Offers Essential Substantive Lessons

In teaching, as in other professions, effectiveness stems, in significant part, from mastering the skills and knowledge to get started on the job and becoming a lifelong learner. Preservice education imparts the basic structures of and information about the core subjects and begins to establish understanding of human development, cognition, and pedagogy. In-service education adds to this foundation and addresses the challenges of particular situations or school contexts. Preparation to be an effective teacher of Hispanic students begins with preservice education and continues as teachers move through induction and into work as full-fledged professionals.

A SOLID PRESERVICE EDUCATION
Institutions that provide preservice education have a dual role in improving the quality of the teacher workforce: they identify strategies that attract well-qualified candidates and prepare those candidates to meet high standards of professional competence.

Candidate recruiting and retention. For teachers of Hispanic students, familiarity with students’ culture can be a matchless asset. Furthermore, Hispanic students who are just learning English gain special benefits from having teachers who are fluent in students’ home language. Such teachers can provide support for learning that is not available in any other way, even if the language of formal instruction is English. However, despite the growing number of Spanish-speaking students, teachers who can communicate fluently in Spanish and English are in short supply. In a recent survey of about three-fourths of the districts in the Council of Great City Schools, about two-thirds reported an immediate need for teachers skilled in bilingual education or teaching English as a second language (Recruiting New Teachers, Council of Great City Schools, & Council of Great City Colleges, 2000). Increasing the pool of teacher candidates who are functionally bilingual can be accomplished by:

Targeting recruitment to bilingual Hispanic candidates helps rectify the problem of underrepresentation of Hispanics in the teacher population and can increase the visibility of teaching as a career option in the Hispanic community. Fostering early interest in education as a career can help Hispanic high school students develop attitudes and ambitions that encourage high school completion and success in college. Activities such as those sponsored by the Future Teachers of America give Hispanic students a chance to sample the satisfactions of teaching. They also provide younger students with tutors and mentors who have a cultural heritage similar to their own.

  Recruiting Bilingual Paraprofessionals to Become Certified Teachers

  • The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), local campuses of California State University, and the Service Employees International Union have created the “Paraeducators’ Career Ladder” to help teaching assistants become teachers. The program is open to paraeducators employed by the city, and more than 5,000 annually have participated since it began in 1994. Candidates enroll in courses at the university and move through a five-stage process toward certification. At each stage, they work toward one or more state standards for teacher preparation with a combination of formal study, peer and mentor coaching sessions, and field experiences based in their own work as classroom assistants. The institutional partners use funds from several sources to provide scholarships and grants. LAUSD has structured an employment category especially for the candidates: they work three hours a day at a school, and their supervisors adjust the work schedule to accommodate course taking.

    Of the nearly 1,400 who have finished the program and achieved certification, almost 85 percent are minority and 65 percent are bilingual. In contrast to teachers who enter LAUSD other ways and transfer to other districts within a short time, 95 percent of career-ladder graduates remain in the district. In the 2000–01 school year, the program will expand, offering special after-school courses that will be more accessible to all potential participants. The career ladder has a steady, improving effect on the overall qualifications of the paraprofessional and teacher workforce.

  • Albuquerque Public Schools (APS), the University of New Mexico, and the local paraprofessional affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers collaborate on a Career Development Program that offers scholarships to aides who have worked at least three years in APS and want to become teachers. More than half of the participants are Hispanic, and many enroll in the bilingual and special education teacher preparation programs. In return for support during their teacher education pro-grams, graduates return to teach in APS classrooms, many in the communities where their families have lived for generations.

Supporting Hispanic students’ enrollment in teacher education programs is especially important when candidates come from families or communities with little or no college experience. Research in several sites has shown that attrition in bilingual teacher education programs can stem partly from candidates’ competing loyalties and responsibilities. Managing coursework, housework, jobs, and families often stretches candidates too far. Sometimes older family members view studying as less important in the short run than working to support the family. To sustain enrollment through college graduation and certification, Hispanic candidates’ projects can offer financial support to offset the costs of higher education and the lost earnings, and they can inform extended families about the long-term benefits of college education (Leighton et al., 1995). These strategies can promote harmony between candidates and their families, and sustain their commitment to completing their education programs.

  Supporting Teacher Candidates

The University of Southern California Latino and Language Minority Teacher Project (LLMTP) is sponsored by a partnership that includes several school districts and post-secondary institutions in Los Angeles. Funded by Title VII, the project aims to improve the quality of the teaching force in Los Angeles by helping members of the community who work in the schools as paraeducators to become teachers. In addition to scholar-ships, faculty mentors, activities to support college enrollment, and regular coursework, LLMTP provides regular opportunities for participants’ families to meet, learn how to help the participants, and celebrate participants’ progress. With their families backing their work, teacher aspirants are able to persevere and make their education and cultural background a resource for the whole community.

Enriched teacher preparation. The preparation of teachers for Hispanic students—including those with limited English proficiency—should promote teachers’ high attainment in core disciplines and include language studies in English and Spanish as well as pedagogy (Leighton et al., 1995). Many states’ certification rules require that teachers have a college major in one discipline and demonstrate knowledge and skill on standardized tests of content, in addition to the knowledge and skills involved in teaching. Furthermore, teachers of students whose personal resources for learning differ from those assumed by conventional curricula require more pedagogical skill and knowledge than are required of other teachers. For example, bilingual education teachers should be prepared to teach reading and language arts in both Spanish and English and to use sheltered instructional techniques in content areas. These are special skills not required of all teachers.

Prospective teachers of Hispanic students—like all teachers—should have extended field experiences that offer opportunities for learning in the company of a mentor. They should also have increasing responsibility for independent teaching (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995). By observing and analyzing experts’ teaching at the beginning of their studies, prospective teachers see how their coursework applies to real-life teaching. Later practice gives them the chance to test hypotheses, refine their skills, and develop approaches to teaching that are well founded professionally and personally. Many teacher education programs sponsor professional development schools where candidates participate in a community of learners that includes not only children but colleagues at all stages of their careers. These schools, usually partnerships of universities and school districts, demonstrate to candidates how seasoned teachers implement programs that value language, culture, and other individual and family resources.

Finally, a good professional preparation program inculcates the value of continuous professional development. Emerging demands and expectations for schools and teachers often call for new approaches and programs along with new knowledge and skills. Teachers should complete preservice training with the clear notion that continuous learning will characterize their professional lives.

INSERVICE EDUCATION FOR COMPLEX NEEDS
Research on schools with many Hispanic and migrant youth—whether those schools have served Hispanic students for years or only have begun to serve them recently—repeatedly affirms the importance of professional development that promotes collaboration and reflection and cultivates the image of teacher as learner (Calderón, 1999; Gonzalez & Darling-Hammond, 1995; Reyes et al., 1999; Rueda, 1998). Because Hispanic students bring complex needs to the classroom, teachers must be able to work together to acquire the special knowledge and pedagogical skills required to meet those needs. Moreover, studies stress that improving students’ educational experiences requires attention to the whole school as an organization (August & Hakuta, 1997; Calderón & Carreón, forthcoming). According to Title I and Title VII, educational excellence for Hispanic students and the segment of the population who are English-language learners must be part of the entire school mission. It follows, then, that professional development must be a school-wide venture that creates the time and the structures that unify the school as a community, striving for excellence.

  “Teacher Learning Communities” Reinforce “Success for All”

In addition to three days of late-summer training, all teachers in El Paso Success for All schools participate regularly in gatherings they call “teacher learning communities” (TLCs), which resemble study groups or communities of practice in other reform models. While they normally meet in grade groups with co-workers, TLCs sometimes also include teachers from their “extended professional family” across the border in Juarez, Mexico, where bilingual Success for All is also being implemented. TLCs were born in 1989 out of the need to adapt a promising instructional model for use in schools with differing needs and characteristics. In TLCs, teachers discuss their problems, get feedback, and discuss ideas with colleagues. They may also develop new curriculum or a new assessment process; learn, apply, and evaluate an instructional practice; adopt or adapt a new program; or work on school restructuring. It is an opportunity for teachers to examine, question, experiment, implement, change, and evaluate their practice collaboratively.

Collaborative, continuous, schoolwide professional development. Research on effective professional development stresses the need to involve everyone at the school in learning activities: principals, teachers, secretaries, support staff, paraprofessionals, and parents (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Gonzalez & Darling-Hammond, 1995). Further-more, studies show the importance of building positive and effective collaborative structures (Calderón, 1999; Fullan & Hargreaves, 1996; Lieberman & Miller, 1991; Joyce, Wolf, & Calhoun, 1993). Placing staff members in teams does not by itself ensure high-quality professional discourse and better practice; teachers and others need to establish norms for cooperation and working efficiently as a team (Calderón, 1999). Team-building exercises improve staff communication, increase awareness that all students—regardless of cultural and language differences—must be expected to reach high academic standards, and promote more effective implementation of reform efforts (Calderón, 1999; Wagstaff & Fusarrelli in Reyes et al., 1999). Rather than simply picking workshop topics, educators must carefully consider who should participate in professional development activities and how they can most effectively work as a team.

Effective professional development offers teachers follow-up observations, support, and opportunities for continuous improvement. If a school’s professional development program is to have a real effect on classroom practice and student achievement of high academic standards, teachers must have continuing support to strengthen and sustain new practices (Calderón, 1994).

Comprehensive professional development is especially important in schools with many Hispanic students. Open communication and teamwork are essential for teachers facing complex educational issues such as English-language development, cultural diversity, and the educational challenges associated with family poverty, immigration, and mobility. Comprehensive professional development that involves all teachers and staff not only unifies the school and coordinates program services, but also helps ensure essential collaboration between mainstream and bilingual/ESL teachers. The ESEA emphasis on coordination between Title I and Title VII reflects the current research recommending that all teachers who share responsibility for the same students participate in the same professional development activities (August & Hakuta, 1997; Calderón, 1999; Wagstaff & Fusarelli in Reyes et al., 1999).

  Marshall Middle School Provides Comprehensive Professional Learning

At Chicago’s Thurgood Marshall Middle School, which serves a 70 percent Hispanic population, a faculty committee establishes priorities for professional development in line with the school’s academic goals. One teacher from each of the school’s teams—clusters of students who share the same faculty and suite of classrooms—sits on a committee that administers the Title I schoolwide program. This committee conducts an annual faculty survey to set the priorities for professional development and presents the resulting plan to the teams for approval. The committee subsequently implements the plan, engaging both professional and paraprofessional staff. In 1998–99, the school implemented an inclusion model for special education students, teaching classes with a broad range of abilities and incorporating technology into classroom instruction.

In order to incorporate best practices in the curriculum, teachers are encouraged to attend professional development activities to learn about emerging middle-school philosophies and to stay abreast of recent developments in their fields of instruction. Marshall offers teachers numerous opportunities to work with one another and to pursue professional growth. The principal requires that every teacher attend at least one middle-school conference each year at the state or national level. The school also pays for teachers to attend subject-area conferences, using both federal Title I and state Chapter 1 funds.

Enhancing teachers’ capacity to accommodate diversity. Many veteran teachers have not had the advanced professional training needed to serve students who are Hispanic, migrant, or English-language learners most effectively. Although more teacher education programs are beginning to address these issues, even new teachers may enter the workforce with inadequate training in this area. They may feel ill-prepared to meet the academic, language, and cultural needs of America’s increasingly diverse student population (Gray, Cahalab, Hein, Litman, Severynse, Warren, Wisan, & Stowe, 1993). Schools can use Title I and Title VII funds (among other federal funds) on activities that improve teachers’ knowledge of curriculum content and state standards so they may better help Hispanic students to succeed.

   Providing Standards-Based Professional Development in Philadelphia

Most schools in Philadelphia are in one of 22 “clusters”—groups of schools that serve students from kindergarten through grade 12. Each cluster organizes and implements its own professional development and training for school staff, within the broad, standards-based framework of the district. In addition, two Title VII grants support districtwide professional development for teachers serving English-language learners, in areas such as portfolio assessment, implementation of standards, and balanced literacy. The central office ensures that all professional development meets the district’s expectations for quality and inclusion (e.g., follow-up training is available, various perspectives and approaches are emphasized).

Among the skills that teachers need to support ELL students’ learning across the curriculum are those involved in using sheltered instruction. Sheltered instruction integrates content objectives with language development objectives. When it is done properly, students with limited English-language skills have opportunities to learn core subject material at grade level—using strategies that rely more on demonstrations and modeling than simply on words to communicate facts and ideas. For example, in a class of fluent English-speakers, a ninth-grade algebra teacher will typically blend talk and demonstration, but the lesson will be richer on the language side, alluding to shared experiences to illustrate concepts and procedures. In a class that includes English-language learners with the prerequisite mathematics skills to learn algebra, the teacher would rely on sheltered instruction, that is, a blend of communication strategies that relies much more heavily on illustration, modeling, and demonstration to convey information. Students who are English-speakers but not primarily verbal learners may also benefit from this approach. However, using this method of instruction demands a much more carefully articulated understanding of mathematics and probably a much greater reliance on nonverbal communication than standard teacher education imparts.

  “Bridging Cultures” to Help Hispanic Students Learn

The Bridging Cultures Project in Oakland, California, introduces elementary school teachers to strategies for becoming more alert to and articulate about culture and thereby more effective in serving Hispanic students. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Educational Research and Improvement, the Language and Cultural Diversity program at WestEd, a federally funded Regional Education Laboratory, has sponsored the Bridging Cultures Project since 1996, with partners from the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) and California State University at Northridge. Project staff are currently working with seven elementary teachers from six predominantly Hispanic schools in the Los Angeles Unified, Ocean View, and Los Nietos school districts to design and field-test professional development materials and workshops. Bridging Cultures has also developed university course modules for preservice teachers.

Bridging Cultures operates on the principle that in order to develop strategies to help children accommodate the sometimes differing expectations of school and home, teachers must first recognize how the different belief systems at school and home operate. The public education system reflects an individualistic orientation, emphasizing individual achievement and experience, while some immigrant cultures—including those of some Hispanic students—tend to hold more cooperative perspectives, emphasizing group harmony and contributions to the group.

The project facilitates understanding of different cultural perspectives and opens the way for better communication between parents and teachers. For instance, Hispanic parents may have different expectations about the social dimensions of their child’s educational experience. When teachers recognize and address parents’ concerns, they build continuity of support for the child. A project staffer noted that Bridging Cultures is not a prescriptive program, but one that promotes cultural understanding. The teachers themselves tackle the task of determining its implications for the class-rooms. The project challenges teachers to become more aware of the ways that the cultural expectations of their Hispanic students (and their families) may differ from the previously unexamined expectations of school.

The effort has sparked enthusiastic responses among participating teachers. Bridging Cultures project staff have documented successful strategies that participating teachers have used to address cross-cultural conflicts experienced by Hispanic students in their classrooms. The project has incorporated these problems and solutions into vignettes that are included in professional development materials. These lessons are included in professional development materials.

 

Organizational Arrangements Help Teachers Learn

In addition to opportunities for formal and informal study of new material and ideas, teachers require organizational supports and structures. These include:

The promising practices described in this section offer insights into how these organizational elements strengthen teachers’ abilities to help Hispanic students succeed academically.

PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP
In all schools, the principal’s leadership plays a critical role in creating a dynamic organization founded on clear and common goals for academic achievement. Principals promote academic excellence by setting priorities and establishing a clear vision for the school. Principals who see professional growth as central to student achievement develop the supports and structures that promote professional development and therefore good teaching (Gonzalez & Darling-Hammond, 1995; Wagstaff & Fusarelli in Reyes et al., 1999). For instance, they provide supervisory feedback that shows understanding of the teacher’s intentions for a lesson, and they arrange release time on an ad hoc basis when teachers want to observe each other. Schools that function as learning communities have powerful leaders with special skills. They cultivate new instructional practices, reform organizational structures to foster teacher collaboration, use resources to create time for collaboration, model collegiality, and instill a climate of genuine respect for teachers and students (Calderón, 1999; Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Gonzalez & Darling-Hammond, 1995).

The presence of strong, knowledgeable principals is especially important in culturally diverse schools and schools that serve many Hispanics (Carter & Chatfield, 1986; Gonzalez & Darling-Hammond, 1995; Wagstaff & Fusarelli in Reyes et al., 1999). The principal puts just as much emphasis on the achievements of Hispanic students and English-language learners as on the achievement of other students, provides ongoing instructional and curricular direction and leadership, engages a talented staff, and involves the entire school in reform. Principals in effective schools view themselves as facilitators or coaches charged with acquiring resources and educational opportunities for teachers and students. They empower staff with decision-making and leadership opportunities. Furthermore, they draw on staff expertise to improve their own skill and understanding. For example, principals may ask teachers who have advanced training in promoting second-language development to help identify the best strategies.

  Building Horizontal and Vertical Integration

In its Title I schoolwide program, H. D. Hilley Elementary School in Socorro (Texas) Independent School District uses vertical and horizontal teaming to coordinate curriculum within and across grade levels and align it with state standards.

Vertical teams meet monthly by subject area across grades to discuss grade-level goals, instructional alignment, cross-grade strategies, and new materials and Internet resources. The school has three vertical teams: the communications team, the math/science team, and the fine arts/social studies team. They monitor the progress of the schoolwide initiatives and coordinate curriculum goals in the K-5 instructional programs. The vertical teams also serve as an accountability check for all grade levels. For example, fourth-grade teachers can discuss with the third-grade teachers what students should know before they are promoted. Each vertical team has a representative from each grade level. Teachers in the lower grades, who teach all subjects, decide among themselves who will represent their grade on each vertical team. One teacher from each vertical team serves as a teacher representative to Hilley's School Improvement Team.

Horizontal teams engage teachers at each grade level in discussions of teaching strategies, resources, and feedback on campus activities. Scheduled weekly during their common lunch period, these conversations encourage teachers to share ideas and to visit one another's classrooms. For example, during one horizontal team meeting, a teacher expressed concern that her students had not scored well on a state assessment practice exam and asked for help. Another teacher whose students had been successful described the strategy she used.

Both the vertical and the horizontal teams implement and assess the professional development related to their areas.

Hilley received "Recognized" status, based on students' attendance and performance on statewide tests, from the Texas Education Agency for three consecutive school years (1995-1998).

Time and Structures for Professional Development
Time is an essential element in teachers' professional growth. Teachers need time within and outside the school day to work with other teachers, follow up, and plan. More and more schools are creatively restructuring school schedules to allocate more time for coordinated planning and discussion. Team-teaching arrangements and special-focus teams encourage teacher collaboration and curriculum development. Observing and mentoring peers are other ways teachers can learn from one another. Professional development outside school, offered through teacher networks, conferences, and university partnerships, also is a valuable use of teacher release time.

Elementary, middle, and high school structures (e.g., middle and high school departmentalization) often impede high-quality professional development. As more educators realize this situation, they are rethinking school structures and practices once considered immutable and restructuring the workday to permit more professional interaction.

  Making Time for Teachers to Meet

Faculty members at Marshall Middle School in Chicago meet twice weekly. Students and teachers are grouped into teams that create a small-school environment; state Chapter 1 funds support two additional "exploratory" teachers so that all students in a team can attend elective classes (e.g., art, computers, physical education) during the same period. This provides the time for team meetings of teachers. Curriculum planning, particularly for the interdisciplinary units crucial to Marshall's curriculum, takes place during another block that the school has set aside for teachers. The school day would normally run from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., but Marshall begins classes daily at 7:50, "banking" the extra 10 minutes of instructional time so that once a month the school can dismiss students early and teachers can spend a half-day on professional development. These early release days are used for team planning, departmental meetings, schoolwide workshops related to professional development priorities, and work on the school improvement plan. Having an early start time required a waiver from the teachers' contract, which the union granted at the teachers' request.

Resources and Materials for Adequate Program Support
Teachers need resources and materials to implement the ideas and instructional strategies they learn through professional development. Teachers of English-language learners need curriculum materials and books suitable for implementing sheltered instruction or other strategies. Teachers also need adequate bilingual reading materials, culturally relevant curricula, visual tools, graphic organizers, and manipulatives in order to put recommended teaching methods into practice.

Implementing effective practices also demands additional human resources. For example, a program may need a reading specialist or literacy coordinator to observe instruction and offer feedback, help develop an ongoing assessment system (e.g., portfolios) for students, or gather materials for new strategies. Teaching assistants and volunteers may also help, under teachers' supervision.

Knowledgeable bilingual/ESL staff are especially important resources in schools serving a large population of Hispanic students who are learning English. Well-qualified bilingual or ESL staff offer essential knowledge of English-language development and serve as important partners to mainstream teachers. In schools that legitimize collaboration, both sets of teachers offer important resources to one another as they work on literacy development, cooperative learning strategies, sheltered and bilingual instruction techniques, and creation of curriculum that is equitable and accessible to English-language learners (Gonzalez & Darling-Hammond, 1995).

 

Checklist for Building Teacher and Organizational Capacity

Does our preservice teacher education program ensure that teachers who will serve Hispanic students begin with a solid foundation of knowledge in the core subjects, pedagogy, and language development by:

checklist Targeting recruitment and retention efforts on bilingual and Hispanic community members, both adults and high school students, whose existing language and cultural resources will be valuable assets?

checklistProviding support for Hispanic candidates' continued enrollment and success in teacher preparation programs?

checklistEnriching teacher preparation to enable candidates to achieve high professional standards in core subjects as well as pedagogy, including English- and Spanish-language development, where appropriate?

Does our in-service education support teachers' development of skill to meet students' complex needs by:

checklist Making professional development collaborative, continuous, and schoolwide?

checklistDesigning professional development specifically to enhance teachers' ability to accommodate and make good use of diverse student resources?

checklistEnsuring that all teachers of English-language learners are skilled in strategies that promote language development as well as achievement in the core subjects?

Do our organizational arrangements help teachers learn by:

checklist Encouraging principals to impress upon teachers that achievement by all students, including Hispanic students, is equally important?

checklistScheduling the school day and week to allow time and space for teachers' professional development?

checklistProviding resources and materials for adequate program support?

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[Chapter 2: Implementing Effective, Aligned, Standards-based Programs]
Table of Contents
[Chapter 4: Using Family and Community Resources]