Effects of Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development on the Language Proficiency of Elementary English Language Learner Students in the Central Region. Final Report. NCEE 2012-4013

This study responds to regional and national needs by examining the impact on students' English language proficiency of a particular set of ELL-specific classroom materials in combination with a specific teacher professional development program. The classroom materials used in this study, entitled On Our Way to English (OWE), were authored by David Freeman, Yvonne Freeman, Aurora Colon Garcia, Margo Gottlieb, Mary Lou McCloskey, Lydia Stack, and Cecilia Silva and were published in 2003 by Rigby. According to the publisher, OWE is a comprehensive English curriculum for elementary classrooms (grades K-5) developed to provide ELL (English language learner) students with simultaneous access to English oral language development, comprehensive literacy instruction, and standards-based content area information in science and social studies (Freeman et al. 2003). The professional development program, entitled Responsive Instruction for Success in English (RISE), was written by Clara Amador-Watson and published in 2004 by Harcourt Achieve. RISE is a professional development program designed to meet the needs of K-5 teachers by providing them with sustained adult learning opportunities to acquire the knowledge and skills to support ELL students in language and literacy learning. RISE is intended to be delivered to teachers in eight separate, core modules. The study addresses one confirmatory research question and three exploratory questions. The confirmatory question addressed is: Does implementation of OWE in conjunction with the use of RISE have a significant impact on the acquisition of English language skills for ELL students as measured by the IPT composite score (based on subsection scores for listening comprehension, reading/vocabulary comprehension, and writing)? The exploratory questions are: (1) Does the combination of OWE and RISE have a significant impact on teacher-reported student engagement with ELL-specific educational materials?; (2) Does the combination of OWE and RISE have a significant impact on teacher-reported instructional practices (differentiated instruction, sheltering instruction, receptive and expressive language instruction, reading instruction, and writing instruction)?; and (3) Does the combination of OWE and RISE have a significant impact on teacher-reported instructional responsiveness and assessment practices (modification of instruction or teacher responsiveness, student-centered instruction, and use of assessments)? Schools in the