Date of Award
1-1-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Ed.D. in Education
Department
Leadership and Counselor Education
First Advisor
Jill Cabrera
Second Advisor
Ryan Niemeyer
Third Advisor
Lane Gauthier
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
ABSTRACT The teaching of English Learners, one of the fastest-growing subgroups in American Public schools, is a task American classroom teachers are ill-equipped to handle. As students from a variety of language backgrounds move from metropolitan areas of the country to more rural locales educational leaders must equip teachers to integrate language acquisition with content instruction. Failure to do so will result in compounding learning gaps among English Learners as the language barrier prevents them from gaining content knowledge. Based in a Mississippi school with a growing population of English Learners comprising over a quarter of the school’s population, this action research study with program evaluation explored the training of classroom teachers in a variety of best practices for teaching English Learners. The results reveal specific strategies found to be successful in improving English Learners’ access to content knowledge as they work toward English language proficiency. The added influence of the COVID-19 pandemic rendered this study of specific value as it addressed how change initiatives can be impacted by external influences while still being successfully implemented.
Recommended Citation
Moak, Mary Greenlee, "BUILDING TEACHER CAPACITY AS A PATHWAY TO EQUITY FOR FIRST-GRADE SPANISH-SPEAKING ENGLISH LEARNERS: AN APPLIED RESEARCH STUDY" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2033.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2033