Public schools are continuously looking for ways to meet their goal of engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families to increase the academic achievement of students. Teachers' assumptions and biases towards CLD families are often influenced by their own perspectives and epistemologies. These qualities are often revealed when…

This dissertation begins by examining certain underlying causes and factors impacting the performance of English Learners (ELs) in a Mid-Atlantic urban district through a comprehensive review of the literature. This analysis employs the PELP Coherence Framework, specifically arranging the underlying causes and factors by environment and framework…

This longitudinal qualitative inquiry examines the possibilities that writer's workshop created for two experienced teachers and their English learners (EL) as they came to know and see each other and themselves in more complex and holistic ways. This inquiry addresses ways that writer's workshop not only altered the practice of experienced…

This dissertation presents the findings of an exploratory, multiple-case study in which eight public secondary school teachers engaged in a professional development (PD) program centered on improving teacher instruction for English learners (ELs). The participants worked as co-teachers with teacher credential candidates, serving as both mentors…

This paper describes an ongoing Professional Development (PD) program that aimed to prepare teacher-leaders for rural English learner (EL) students. We delineate the theoretical underpinnings of the PD design and describe the two-year graduate coursework program with onsite coaching in rural schools in detail. We define rurality and the context of…

This qualitative study examined the influences of teachers' experiences on their perceptions of teaching English language learners (ELLs) framed within Mezirow's transformative learning theory. Eight teachers ranging from pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade participated in long interviews responding to a 10 item questionnaire. Each teacher…

Teachers in a middle school and a high school with high percentages of English language learners showed evidence of transformative learning during the 2 years in which they collaborated in an ongoing professional development activity called "learning labs," which include focused discussion of observations of colleagues' classrooms.…

The racially-based academic achievement gap demonstrates that schools are not equally successful with all students. There are gaps in discipline; placement in remedial, gifted, and honors classes; assignment to special education programs; grade point averages; dropout and graduation rates as well as in funding and resources. The elimination of…