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Abstract The 2019 science results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 8th-grade students, especially economically challenged and emergent bilingual students, made few gains in science and reading achievement. Researchers have found that scientific language may be a significant barrier to student comprehension. Researchers have advocated for integrating effective literacy strategies into the science curriculum to assist students in science and reading outcomes. We investigated the enactment of literacy-infused science strategies of a group of participating seventh-grade science teachers in a federally funded project following monthly virtual professional development sessions. Results indicated that teachers self-reported an overall increase in their use of literacy-infused science strategies after participating in monthly literacy-infused virtual professional development.

In this randomized control study, we evaluated science teachers' pedagogical practices via classroom observations following ongoing, intensive, and structured instructional support sessions. These sessions included virtual professional development (VPD) and virtual mentoring and coaching (VMC) that accompanied a literacy-infused science curriculum. Using a low-inference observational instrument, we explored the direct impact of VPD and VMC on fifth-grade science teachers' observed time allocation in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) validation study. The observations were collected three times during science instruction from 121 teachers in 68 schools from 35 public school districts in the U.S. state of Texas, during the 2017-2018 school year. Preliminary findings revealed pedagogical differences in time allocation among teachers between treatment and control classrooms. We identified improved instructional practices within treatment classrooms, which suggests the intervention had a positive effect by enhancing the quality of pedagogy as well as the content-area instruction in science.

IntroductionResearch is still emerging on how to develop school leaders’ instructional capacity. We implemented research-based practices through virtual professional leadership learning communities (VPLCs) for building school leaders’ instructional capacity. We examined school leaders’ perceptions of (a) the effectiveness of the VPLC as a vehicle for improving instructional practices, (b) the essential components of an effective VPLC, and (c) school leaders’ instructional leadership practices through discussions within VPLC.MethodsThe participants of this study were 40 school leaders at the principal and assistant principal levels in elementary schools in the state of Texas. Based on the research purpose and design, multiple types of data were collected to explore participants’ perceptions and experiences of VPLC.ResultsBased on both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the data from questionnaires and interviews, we found that this VPLC allowed participants to share leadership research and resources and provided them with an avenue for collaborating and communicating with other school leaders. The results of the qualitative data revealed two major components that the participants thought a VPLC should provide based on their experiences in the program (a) community building through collaboration and (b) reflective modules and discussion.DiscussionAn SST explanation can potentially reduce some aspects of homophobia among both healthcare professionals and lay people. Also, worryingly, Chinese healthcare professionals, especially medical professionals, reported more homophobia than lay individuals These VPLCs were regarded as grounds for innovation, as participants worked together with other school leaders to find problems and determine creative and workable solutions focused on building instructional capacity in serving high-needs schools. Thus, school leaders can be supported through sustained, effective professional learning in communities of practice, or virtual professional leadership learning communities.

Field-based practicum experiences are essential in connecting classroom theory to the real world. In this mixed methods study, we analyzed principal candidates' perceptions of their summer residency practicum experiences via a self-assessment principal leadership competency instrument and virtual semi-structured interviews. We found that principal candidates expressed leadership growth in the following Texas principal leadership competency areas: Strategic Operations, Human Capital, and Executive Leadership. These findings were consistent in our quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Conversely, the principal candidates stated that their greatest leadership challenges during the summer residency practicum involved providing instructional feedback and engaging in difficult conversations. The results of this study may assist principal preparation programs in revamping their curriculum to include a more meaningful residency-practicum experience.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of program admission requirements, university-district partnerships, and course content integration on the internship within principal preparation programs. University principal preparation programs have been a focus of recent attention, specifically since 2005 when the report Arthur Levine published his report, Educating School Leaders. Research identified the field-based internship as a valuable part of principal preparation programs. We developed the Principal Preparation Program Policy Survey (4Ps) to collect data from program chairs of public universities across the nation. We employed structural equation modeling to answer the research questions. The findings revealed that partnership policies have significant relationships with the principal internship and with admission requirements. Universities that develop strong district partnership policies are more likely to have strong internship and admission policies for their preparation programs. Similarly, admission policies have a significant relationship with program-course content integration, which means that the universities that produce strong admission policies are more likely to produce strong program course-content integration policies. Because this study provides empirical evidence that universitydistrict partnership policies and admissions policies have a significant relationship with internship policies, it is important for university principal preparation faculty to review their university-district partnership and admission policies and practices in relation to their internship policies and practices. The outcome based on the results implies that the stronger the university-district partnerships and admissions policies are, the stronger the internship will be.

In this study, we investigated Texas teachers’ perceptions of instructional coaches’ (ICs) practices that improve professional learning communities (PLCs) to enhance teachers’ instructional capacities. The study’s participants included 67 teachers from rural, urban, and suburban school districts across the state of Texas. They enrolled in a virtual professional development (VPD) module related to improving instruction in high needs schools. Data were collected from participants via an open-ended survey. To answer the study research question, we employed a qualitative phenomenological research approach. Findings indicated that teachers perceived ICs can perform two main types of practices that contribute to enhancing PLC meetings: (a) practices for creating a safe PLC learning environment and (b) practices in PLCs for enhancing teachers’ instructional capacities. Our findings add to the literature providing the first empirical study in which researchers investigated teachers’ perceptions about ICs’ practices within PLCs.

From 2017 until 2020, we held face-to-face professional development focused on enhancing instructional leadership for underserved schools at the campus level. We quickly determined in March 2020, based on the predicted situation of COVID-19, that we needed to change that venue to virtual professional development (VPD). The study was grounded in the theoretical base of adult learning theory and transformational learning since we were working with school leaders. The researchers used a mixed methods research design with a survey to examine to what extent school leaders perceived their engagement in a synchronous VPD webinar with facilitators increased their knowledge on the topic of conflict management. The findings showed that the participants perceived targeted VPD to have significantly increased their knowledge on conflict management. Additionally, the participating school leaders indicated a shift in their attitudes from negative to positive perceptions regarding conflict. The findings suggest that structured VPD for school leaders has the potential to advance school leaders’ knowledge on conflict management.

We conducted a research synthesis to examine the impact of cooperative, collaborative, and peer-tutoring strategies on elementary English learners’ (EL) reading and oral proficiencies in studies from the United States. Seven studies were included in the analysis and fully examined regarding the characteristics of sample, intervention, design, and outcome. Effect sizes were reported by the outcome. We found that cooperative/collaborative/peer-tutoring (CCP) strategies boost elementary ELs’ reading comprehension, reading fluency, and phonemic awareness. Ongoing professional development (PD) and coaching help teachers to improve the quality of strategy implementation. The findings indicated that the quality of implementation, the actual amount of time of these strategies are used in the classroom, and the instructional impact of CCP strategies utilization to improve ELs’ English reading and speaking should be the focus of future research.

This dataset belongs to a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) in educational research targeting English learning students and their teachers' instructional capacity. The dataset includes ratings conducted through classroom observations of 45-minute English as a Second language (ESL) blocks. Each coder rated 60 recorded video segments collected from each teacher. During the 20-second segment, ratings of six domains of teachers' instruction (i.e., ESL Strategies, Group, Activity Structure, Mode, Language Content, Language of Teacher, Language of Student) were collected. The dataset is organized by teacher, by coder, and by domain, for researchers to analyze inter-rater reliability among coders by domain and/or cross-domain. This data article is related to the research article Tong et al. [3] on “The determination of appropriate coefficient indices for inter-rater reliability: using classroom observation instruments as fidelity measures in large-scale randomized research”. Keywords: Inter-rater reliability, Classroom observation, Fidelity of implementation, Bilingual/ESL education

This meta-analysis includes experimental and quasi-experimental studies of reading interventions for English learners (ELs) coupled with four specific instructional strategies. The purposes of this meta-analysis were two-fold: (1) to identify the effects of the four instructional strategies (i.e. scaffolding, graphic organizers, interactive read aloud, and leveled questions) on ELs' reading comprehension; and (2) to evaluate the combined effect of these four strategies when used together on ELs' reading comprehension. In addition to considering that different studies might have varying effect sizes on ELs' reading comprehension, we also conducted moderator analyses to explore potential moderators that might affect the variation between selected studies. Our moderators were school level, intervention duration, language learning context, and sample size. After an extensive search of research literature, 23 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria of this meta-analysis study with a total of 2,284 participants. Mean effect sizes among these studies ranged from -0.05 to 2.23, depending on instructional strategies. These studies were associated with increased reading comprehension across varied school levels, methodological features, and settings. Our findings showed that each of the four instructional strategies is beneficial for ELs' reading comprehension. We also found an additional potential benefit on ELs' reading comprehension when these four instructional strategies are used together throughout a lesson. Our findings also revealed that intervention duration was the only significant moderator, suggesting that the longer the treatment is, the greater the impact will be on ELs' comprehension.

When analyzing complex longitudinal data, especially data from different educational settings, researchers generally focus only on the mean part (i.e., the regression coefficients), ignoring the equally important random part (i.e., the random effect variances) of the model. By using Project English Language and Literacy Acquisition (ELLA) data, we demonstrated the importance of taking the complex data structure into account by carefully specifying the random part of the model, showing that not only can it affect the variance estimates, the standard errors, and the tests of significance of the regression coefficients, it also can offer different perspectives of the data, such as information related to the developmental process. We used xxM (Mehta, 2013), which can flexibly estimate different grade-level variances separately and the potential carryover effect from each grade factor to the later time measures. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.

Since effective professional development is logically embedded in the reality of schools and teachers‘ work, it stands to reason that the principal would consider that reality for teachers of English language learners (ELL). Certainly, in general, professional development would incorporate principles of adult learning as reported by Knowles (1980): (1) adult learners need to be self-directed; (2) they display readiness to learn when they have a perceived need; and (3) they desire immediate application of new skills and knowledge. Based on adult learning theory, then, principals would provide teachers of ELLs professional development that addresses a need for self-direction, that addresses their particular needs, and that addresses the desire to apply what is learned. Time and created situations whereby teachers can dialogue with other teachers and principals can dialogue with other principals is critical for the effective application of the knowledge gained in professional development sessions and afterward as well.

The overarching purpose of our study was to compare performances of treatment and control condition students who completed a literacy-infused, inquiry-based science intervention through sixth grade as measured by a big idea assessment tool which we refer to as the Big Ideas in Science Assessment (BISA). First, we determine the concurrent validity of the BISA; second, we investigate the differences in the post-test of the BISA between treatment and control English Learners (ELs), controlling for their performance in the pre-test; third, we analyze the differences in the post-test of the BISA between treatment and control non-ELs, controlling for their performance in the pre-test; and fourth, we examine the relationship between students’ English language proficiency as measured by standardized assessment, and their performance in the BISA among ELs and non-ELs, respectively. Our findings indicate: (a) literacy-infused science lessons with big ideas, implemented through the tested intervention, improved students’ language acquisition and science concept understanding for ELs and economically challenged students (ECs); (b) there was a positive relationship between language and content for both ELs and non-ELs, with a similar magnitude, suggesting that students with a higher level of English proficiency score higher in science assessment; and (c) the lesson plans prepared were successful for promoting a literacy-infused science curriculum via a 5E Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) that includes three to five of the Es used daily. A pedagogical approach for a literacy-infused science model with big ideas is proposed.

Professional development (PD) for school leaders is focused primarily on documenting professional learning and identifying growth areas. However, the impact of reflections related to PD on sustaining school leaders' instructional capacity remains rather unaddressed. We examined how practicing school leaders develop their instructional leadership practices through the use of the Reflection Cycle included in PD. This study was anchored in the conceptual framework of the Reflection Cycle offered by Author et al. (2001). Reflection and transformation are two central components in this framework. To this end, we collected the data through school leader participants' reflections related to PD. The constant comparative method of the data analysis led to the emergence of three major themes as to how school leaders reflect on the improvement of building instructional capacity to improve teachers' pedagogy. Our findings revealed an increased awareness of instructional leadership and decision-making as informed by the practicing school leaders' reflections. Structured reflections via the use of the Reflection Cycle show promise for enhancing school leaders' plans for transforming and improving their instructional leadership practices.

The authors studied a longitudinal English intervention in a 70/30 (Spanish/English) developmental bilingual education (DBE) program (n = 302) and compared this model with a typical-practice, 80/20, late-exit transitional bilingual education program (n = 187) in terms of students' language and literacy acquisition from kindergarten to second grade in an urban school district in southeastern Texas. The findings revealed significant differences (p values < .05) in favor of DBE students on (a) English measures of oral language, preliteracy skills, and reading fluency and comprehension (effect sizes of .12 to .71) and (b) Spanish measures of letter name and sound, preliteracy skills, and reading comprehension (effect sizes of .19 to .38). It was concluded that quality English instruction that incorporates direct and focused instruction, context-embedded vocabulary learning, and ongoing professional training in DBE programs is much needed to promote bilingualism and biliteracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student learning objectives (SLOs) have become an increasingly popular tool for teacher evaluations as an alternative to Value-added Models (VAMs). However, the use of SLOs faces two major challenges. First, the target setting is mostly subjective and arbitrary. Second, there is little evidence on the reliability and validity of the tool. In this paper, we proposed three data-based SLO target-setting models: split, banded, and class-wide models. The data-based approach ensures that the targets set for students are challenging yet realistic and achievable. Using data of 176 pre-kindergarten teachers and two cohorts of students from a large school district in Texas, we investigated the reliability and predictive validity of teachers’ SLO scores. Results indicated that teachers’ SLO scores had moderate to high consistency across different subtests, and moderate stability over time. Teachers’ SLO scores were also demonstrated to be useful in predicting future students’ achievement, which supported the predictive validity of the tool.