Coaching for Multilingual Student Success

Multilingual Coaching for

Student Success

INTENTIONAL PRACTICES TO ACCELERATE LEARNING AND CLOSE ACHIEVEMENT GAPS

Multilingual Coaching for Student Success

INTENTIONAL PRACTICES TO ACCELERATE LEARNING AND CLOSE ACHIEVEMENT GAPS

KAREN JOHANNESEN BROCK

WITH MARGARITA ESPINO CALDERÓN

Copyright © 2024 by Solution Tree Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Johannesen Brock, Karen, author. | Calderón, Margarita, author.

Title: Coaching for multilingual student success : intentional practices to accelerate learning and close achievement gaps / Karen Johannesen Brock ; Margarita Espino Calderón, contributor.

Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023051931 (print) | LCCN 2023051932 (ebook) | ISBN 9781960574206 (paperback) | ISBN 9781960574213 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Multilingual education. | Multilingualism in children. | Mentoring in education.

Classification: LCC LC3715 .J65 2024 (print) | LCC LC3715 (ebook) | DDC 370.117/5--dc23/eng/20231108

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023051931

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023051932

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Acknowledgments

Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:

Doug Crowley

Assistant Principal

DeForest Area High School

DeForest, Wisconsin

Nathalie Fournier

French Immersion Teacher

Prairie South School Division

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada

Amber Gareri

Instructional Specialist, Innovation and Development

Pasadena ISD

Pasadena, Texas

Benjamin J. Kitslaar Principal

West Side Elementary School

Elkhorn, Wisconsin

Ian Landy

District Principal of Technology

School District 47

Powell River, British Columbia, Canada

Shanna Martin

Middle School Teacher & Instructional Coach

School District of Lomira

Lomira, Wisconsin

About the Author

Karen Johannesen Brock has been an educator for more than three decades. She has consulted in more than one hundred schools and districts and has worked at the state, school, and district levels. Dr. Brock has worked extensively with schools and districts to implement instructional coaching and design as well as professional learning plans and school-improvement plans.

She holds undergraduate degrees in special education and elementary education as well as a master’s degree in school leadership from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree and doctorate in educational research methods from Oxford University. Her doctoral work and subsequent consulting work have focused on school turnaround. To book Karen Johannesen Brock for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.

Introduction

Imagine the following two scenes.

A family comes into an elementary school office to enroll their children. The family just moved to town and speaks little English. Each of the three children is placed in a classroom according to the space available. One student is a fifth grader who is exceptionally capable in mathematics—she was working on precalculus in her previous school. The third grader is interested in everything involving science—particularly plants, animals, and rocks. The first-grade student has not attended preschool or kindergarten but seems to be very verbal.

The school principal looks at each grade-level team, trying to determine the best placement for these students. She weighs the class size and the choices at each grade level. On the fifth-grade team, Ms. Jones is known for getting good mathematics results, while Mr. Smith doesn’t seem to teach mathematics very often and students have not grown much in mathematics in his class in the last two years. The principal transferred three students from Mr. Smith’s class to Ms. Jones’s class earlier in the year at parent request. Mr. Smith has a smaller class size and has two other multilingual students in the class. While she observed in Mr. Smith’s classroom last week, the principal noted that the multilingual students rarely received opportunities to speak during the lesson.

The third-grade team has three classes: One team member is a brand-new teacher who has the science rotation for the grade. Hers is the smallest class, but she has four multilingual students and three students with very difficult behavior issues that take up a lot of the energy. The other two third-grade teachers have large classes with strong classroom management; one of the classes demonstrated more than 90 percent of students growing at accelerated rates in literacy last year. The first-grade team has one teacher, Mrs. Abbot, who teaches using a robust phonics and phonemic awareness program and has her students talking throughout the day. The other first-grade teacher, Mr. James, takes a more balanced literacy approach and has students working at stations for a good portion of the day. Where will the principal place these students?

A similar scenario unfolds at the high school. The principal is tasked with placing two new students, both of whom are multilingual. One family comes in to enroll their daughter. They are new to the area and hopeful that she will have a good experience and that teachers will invest in her and support her to learn English rapidly. Her parents wonder if she can audition for the advanced choir, as she has always been active in choir. She has also been learning to code on her own but struggles with reading in her first language. The principal considers what the student’s schedule should look like, knowing that she’s coming from a country with an unstable environment and inconsistent schooling opportunities. The second student is a boy who completed calculus the year before. Through an interpreter, the parents explain that their son was in debate club in his previous school. They ask if he can join the debate club at this school.

Are these scenarios familiar to you? Have you been in these principals’ shoes? When parents ask questions about the opportunities open to their incoming students, what do you tell them about the everyday experiences of multilingual students enrolled at your school? These daily decisions are difficult! They present challenges for every principal. And yet, they are incredibly impactful in the lives of students and their families. Every child deserves to sit in our best teachers’ classrooms and have access to rigor throughout their day.

Opportunity for All

My (Karen’s) passion for multilingual students’ success arises from both my personal and my professional experiences. When I was just three months old, my family moved from Canada to the United States, where I had a green card until I was fourteen years old when I became a U.S. citizen. I attended school from kindergarten to grade 12 in Washington State, working as an agricultural worker during the summers throughout my teenage years. Thanks to teachers who invested in me, encouraged me, and pushed

me to achieve, I was a first-generation college graduate and encountered a world of opportunities. I have thought many times through the years what a difference it made for me that I was born just across the border in Canada, rather than Mexico, in a middle-class family and lived in an agricultural valley where every teenager worked in the fields in the summer. I did not have a language barrier, and my access to learning was not impacted by where I was born.

My love of teaching started early when, as a senior in high school, I tutored kindergarten students who struggled with reading. Seeing students’ eyes light up when they understood a concept and mastered skills that unlocked new levels of learning, I was hooked and sought out a similar one-to-one teaching field at university. This led me to graduate with a dual certificate in K–12 special education and K–6 elementary education. I loved the search to find the best, most effective tools and practices to accelerate student learning and help students believe in their abilities. Throughout my fourteen years in the classroom, I volleyed between special education and elementary education assignments and found that whether I was teaching a group of advanced or struggling students, the strategies to accelerate learning were aligned—regardless of population or demographic.

After leaving the classroom, my research, classroom observations, and practical work in the school improvement process have taught me that it is possible to accelerate learning for every student simultaneously by using instructional strategies that engage students in their learning. I have been fortunate to work in a variety of contexts, consulting in low-performing schools doing turnaround work: I have consulted in more than a hundred K–12 schools and districts and have observed in more than 4,000 classrooms. I have worked at the state, district, and school levels. I’ve taught at the university level. I’ve worked as a district director of professional learning and overseen instructional coaching. I’ve worked in very rural settings, in suburban settings, and in urban settings.

No matter the context, I’ve seen the same outcome over and over again: when students are engaged in reading, dialogue, writing, and guided self-assessment for most hours of the day, student performance increases.

Multilingual learners have unique learning needs that must be addressed if they are to thrive. Creating a successful learning environment for multilingual learners is within the reach of every teacher! In this book, you’ll find a pathway to support teachers though instructional coaching as part of the professional learning plan. Instructional coaches are key to the process and can help teachers as they lesson plan to include adaptations, extensions, and scaffolding for multilingual students. Whether the school-wide

learning plan is focused on mathematics, science, writing, evidence-based instructional strategies, the formative assessment cycle, or something else, each teacher will implement the learning plan in the classroom in a way that directly supports learning. Instructional coaches can help teachers more effectively differentiate lessons to intentionally support multilingual learners in the classroom. By necessity, the instructional coaches are generalists and not multilingual learner specialists. The instructional coach collaborates with the district or school multilingual learner specialist to ensure that all teachers are receiving consistent access to materials and support for the districtadopted curriculum and pedagogical practices supporting multilingual students. Providing accelerated learning opportunities for the multilingual learner is a critical need across the nation that we can and must meet. When teachers have access to the support offered through instructional coaching, implementation is more likely to move to consistent classroom practices to accelerate student learning (Joyce & Showers, 2002).

Instructional Supports for Multilingual Learners

Despite the persistent need for specific instructional supports for multilingual learners, few teachers are adequately equipped with the skills to meet their unique learning needs and challenges. According to National Center for Education Statistics (2023), while approximately 67 percent of teachers have at least one English learner student in their class, less than 10 percent of teachers have a major or minor certification in ESL, and 52 percent of teachers have never taken a course on how to teach English learner students. This book provides guidance for school systems to rapidly increase the opportunities for students to receive adequate instructional supports to move learning forward.

One consistent challenge to this work is the fear that focusing on multilingual learners will somehow be detrimental to their classmates. I repeatedly hear teachers asking, “How can we support multilingual learners in the classroom without lowering the rigor of the lesson?” The good news is this fear is unfounded. The instructional strategies that support multilingual learners are strategies that increase rigor and academic gains for all students. Teachers do not have to choose between serving multilingual learners and providing rigorous instruction for all. School systems need an efficient strategy that supports teachers as they learn how to change instruction to meet the instructional and academic needs of all students in their classrooms today.

Professional Learning That Includes Instructional Coaching

The solution is a systems approach that starts with the district’s school improvement plan that includes an intentional professional learning structure with instructional coaching support for each teacher. Such a plan requires district-level supports in the form of time, funding, leadership training, and support. Schools that implement intentional professional learning that includes instructional coaching for each teacher enjoy rapid changes in the instructional experience for all students and often see measurable and observable student learning gains within the first school year of implementation.

This book refers to both the school improvement plan and the professional learning plan. While both plans are based on student learning, proficiency, and growth data, the school improvement plan is an overarching document that outlines the school’s goals for improvement as well as the various programs, staffing, and budget allocation to support the plan. The school improvement plan is based on student learning data and identifies the priorities for the school year; it provides the why and the urgency behind the need for a professional learning plan that outlines changes in classroom practice to improve student learning. The professional learning plan is a school-level plan created to improve instruction based on the needs identified in the school improvement plan. The professional learning plan outlines action points for every classroom and includes theory, demonstration, practice, and coaching; it provides the framework for the school’s work, thus becoming the vehicle to move the school improvement plan from idea to implementation.

Any shift in student learning gains is a direct result of the implementation of instructional strategies that are intentionally aligned to the needs of the students in the classroom. Such alignment is achieved when each teacher adds these strategies into the daily routines of the classroom. This work is the central focus of a school’s professional learning plan. A professional learning plan that is focused on implementing strategies in every classroom creates teacher collective efficacy across the school as the school unites to support multilingual students. Student learning gains are observable and measurable and aligned to the degree to which the teachers use the research-based strategies and engage with an instructional coach. These changes in student learning will be evident within weeks of consistent implementation.

For the professional learning plan to be effective enough to reach all students, every classroom needs to measurably implement research-based strategies that accelerate learning for multilingual students. Researchers Bruce Joyce and Beverley Showers (2002), as well as Linda Darling-Hammond, Maria E. Hyler, and Madelyn Gardner (2017)

and others, create a compelling argument for a comprehensive professional learning approach as a means to improve student achievement. The most successful approach has proven to be a well-planned, research-based professional learning training schedule that includes instructional coaching opportunities for each teacher. Throughout this book, school and district teams will find structures and strategies to support the development and implementation of a professional learning plan for the school. Teams can use the discussion questions in each chapter to guide team conversations and support the creation of a unique plan that is aligned to the school community and can be implemented right away.

About This Book

This book is intended to be a guide for schools and districts as they seek to design and implement professional learning plans that result in both professional learning for teachers and measurable gains in student learning and can be studied as a team. The information in each section will provide general guidance on the development of the school plan or instructional coaching model and provide specific attention to adaptations to the plan or questions to consider that will support the multilingual learner. Each chapter suggests opportunities to reflect on your current environment and to make plans for moving closer to equity and the creation of a learning school.

Although there are many excellent approaches and promising practices for supporting students in pull-out or special classrooms designed to support multilingual learners, this book does not address that portion of the student day. Rather, it focuses on supporting teachers to engage multilingual learners throughout the day in classrooms with age peers. Multilingual learners need to be engaged in reading, discussion, writing, learning vocabulary, and receiving feedback on their learning throughout the day. While the ideas and strategies introduced throughout this book focus on the multilingual learner, they ignite rigorous learning for all students.

The text is organized in two parts. Part I, Foundations, explores the foundational components of this book: the multilingual learner, the professional learning plan, and the instructional coach. Each chapter of part I defines key terms, outlines essential roles, and illuminates relationships between members on the school campus as they collaborate to accelerate learning for multilingual learners.

Chapter 1 offers a definition of the term multilingual learner, explores some of the unique strengths and challenges multilingual learners experience, and discusses how to meet their needs.

Chapter 2 examines the process of designing a professional learning plan, considering adult learning theory, motivation, and aspects of effective professional learning schools must incorporate into designing a professional learning plan.

Chapter 3 explores how instructional coaching empowers teachers to support learners to thrive in the classroom. While instructional coaches are often generalists, many examples are provided throughout the chapter and book to highlight their role in supporting teacher proficiency with pedagogical practices that support multilingual students. This chapter overviews various approaches to instructional coaching, noting the differences between coaching light and coaching heavy and defining the coaching role for the purposes of this book.

Chapter 4 considers the importance of establishing a district coaching team. It examines such topics as designing a districtwide coaching structure, providing guidance and ensuring autonomy, scheduling regular coaches’ meetings, and including curriculum specialists.

Part II of the book, Implementation, provides step-by-step guidance for each member involved in the professional learning plan—principals, teachers, expert trainers, and instructional coaches. Each chapter provides an overview of the process, guidance for how to accomplish the necessary steps, and tools to support implementation.

Chapter 5 offers step-by-step guidance for teams constructing a professional learning plan. It covers steps such as gathering data, identifying student needs, surveying research, creating a blueprint, considering session design, and refining the process.

Chapter 6 discusses how to organize professional learning for instructional coaches with the help of an expert trainer.

Chapter 7 examines how to define the role of the instructional coach within the professional learning plan. It provides guidance for building a coaching program, hiring an instructional coach, implementing the school’s professional learning goals, maximizing coach-teacher collaboration, and collecting coaching data.

Chapter 8 provides guidance for adapting the book’s tools to customize a professional learning plan that’s right for your context.

The book can be read individually but is designed for teams to spur conversation, look at data, and explore ideas together. Throughout the book, you will find questions to discuss, data to collect, and ideas to consider for your setting. At the end of each chapter, there is an opportunity to engage in a more focused conversation meant to be applied in the unique setting of the school, district, or state. Let’s get started!

PAR t I Foundations

CHAPTER 1

THE MULTILINGUAL LEARNER

CHAPTER 2

THE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING PLAN

CHAPTER 3

THE INSTRUCTIONAL COACH

CHAPTER 4

THE DISTRICT COACHING TEAM

The Multilingual Learner

Two families moved from Mexico into the same town in the United States within a few months of each other. Between the two families, there were five children: two elementary and three secondary students. Language proficiency and literacy gains were tracked over the next four years. Of the five students, a second-grade student was fortunate enough to attend an elementary school that utilized a structured literacy program, and, although her family did not speak English at home, she was speaking and reading English on grade level by fourth grade. She graduated with honors from high school on time and elected to attend a rigorous and prestigious university upon graduation. Her multilingual abilities continue to be an asset. The other four children did not experience consistent literacy instruction and still required language support services at the end of the four years. They were in the same school system but having significantly different language support experiences. These four students did not reach grade-level literacy skills over the four years and, thus, were not prepared to participate in honors and academically rigorous classes in secondary school.

The multilingual learner is a category this book focuses on in great detail. You’ll read data about these students, encounter strategies for supporting their learning, and undertake processes to decrease learning gaps they face. But most importantly, each

student who fits into the category of multilingual learner is a person—a human being with a unique story, particular challenges, and extraordinary potential.

In this chapter, we define who multilingual learners are, explore some of their unique strengths and challenges, and discuss how to meet their needs.

Multilingual Learner Defined

Terminology is important in the conversation regarding students learning English. While terms such as English learner, English language learner, English language development, limited English proficiency, and multilingual learner are often used interchangeably within the conversation and the educational setting, there are some differences beyond personal preference. English learner and English language learner are terms that appear in legal and legislative language within policies and serve a specific purpose in that regard. The term multilingual learner has emerged more recently as a favored term; as Najarro (2023) suggests, “Generally speaking, the term multilingual learner is more asset-based because it highlights students’ existing language abilities while they develop another language.”

In the United States, the number and percentage of multilingual learners is increasing. According to a May 2023 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study, schools between 2010 and 2020 experienced a consistent increase in students learning English.

The percentage of public school students in the United States who were English learners (ELs) was higher in fall 2020 (10.3 percent, or 5.0 million students) than in fall 2010 (9.2 percent, or 4.5 million students).

In fall 2020, the percentage of public school students who were ELs ranged from 0.7 percent in West Virginia to 20.1 percent in Texas.

During this same period, the learning gap between English speakers and English learners widened. The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores differentiate between English learners and non-English learners. The NAEP, a congressionally mandated program, tests a representative sample of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students in the United States annually and provides a detailed report of the academic status and growth of students. The NAEP is often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card. The results provide sobering information regarding the language and literacy gap between English learners and non-English learners. The learning gap is identified across all grade levels and increases for older students. Where the achievement gap between multilingual learners and their English-speaking peers

in fourth grade was 32 points, by the time students were in eighth grade the gap had increased to 39 points. The gap in achievement scores between the English learners and the non-English learners in twelfth grade (last tested in 2019) increased further to 53 points. The twelfth graders represented in the NAEP scores are those who have stayed in the system, hoping to increase learning. These data do not represent the students who left school early and did not continue to receive academic support.

Up to 35 percent of students in U.S. schools are multilingual. In the United States, the vast majority of multilingual learners require language support programs for five to six years. As a result, these students are less prepared to graduate from high school and explore educational opportunities beyond graduation. In a 2016 study of Arizona schools, Min Huang, Eric Haas, Niufeng Zhu, and Loan Tran found that students who acquire language proficiency within the first few years of schooling enjoy greater access to educational opportunities throughout their K–12 experience and are far more likely to graduate from high school than their long-term English learner peers (see figure 1.1).

Source: Regional Educational Laboratory West at WestEd. (2016). Figure 1 [Adapted from Arizona Department of Education, 2003/04–2013/14]. In Long-term English learner students: Spotlight on an overlooked population. Available from www.wested.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LTEL-factsheet.pdf Figure 1.1:

rates.

Schools have the privilege and responsibility of meeting the needs of these students, which up until now have gone unmet in consistent and lasting ways. Multilingual learners spend the majority of their school day with primarily English-speaking peers. As part of the educational requirements for students learning English, a portion of the day must be spent in specific English instruction settings. In these classrooms, English learners are pulled from their grade-level or content-area classrooms (pull-out model) at a regularly scheduled time and are provided English language instruction, often referred to as English as a second language (ESL) instruction. During the remainder of the day, students return to their grade-level or content-area classrooms and follow a regular schedule. Pull-out or push-in programs play a support role, but since most multilingual students spend more hours of the day in the general education classroom, this setting can be organized to provide the accelerated language instruction necessary to close the learning and achievement gaps at accelerated rates.

According to Margarita Calderón (2011), students who enter school in grades K–3, when provided with rich language development opportunities daily, should no longer require significant language support services and, with targeted instruction and sufficient scaffolding throughout the school day, be able to read, write, and comprehend on grade level at the end of three years. Students who enter school after fourth grade should be able to read, write, and comprehend on grade level and test out of significant language support services within two to three years (Calderón, 2011). This is not currently the norm. In fact, if students do not experience sufficiently targeted academic language acquisition instructional opportunities daily and lag behind this three-year goal, the performance gap between multilingual learners and their English-speaking peers continues to widen at an accelerated pace.

Just like the story you read at the beginning of this chapter, each multilingual learner has a unique story. A common denominator is the hope and the need to be placed in a classroom where there will be many opportunities across most hours of the school day to practice academic language and be taught grade-level curriculum with age peers.

Strengths and Challenges of Multilingual Learners

So, who are multilingual learners? Multilingual learners come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Their families may be navigating challenges with immigration or visa status. They may be refugees. Like all students, they bring unique assets to the classroom, have personalized needs, and face barriers to success particular to their situation.

Each learner brings to the classroom unique contributions that enrich the school environment and develop the culture and personality of the school community. These students bring a language and culture into the classroom that can provide a rich perspective and contribution. In his 2019 Washington Post article “Half of the World Is Bilingual. What Is Our Problem?” Jay Mathews provides interesting statistics and perspectives comparing the United States, where only 20 percent of Americans are able to converse in two or more languages, with Europe, where 56 percent of Europeans are multilingual. By these estimates, half of the world is bilingual. Mathews (2019) highlights the dichotomy that the multilingual learner is often not seen as an asset in school, yet 66 percent of employers indicated they would give preference to hiring a bilingual applicant. Multilingual learners are an asset to the classroom. They often bring to the classroom culturally and linguistically rich perspectives and experiences that enrich and add depth to the classroom and school.

Just as the classroom environment offers an opportunity for multilingual learners’ unique strengths to shine, it also poses particular barriers. These barriers can be wide ranging, including difficulty interpreting some common phrases or vocabulary, comprehending academic text, interpreting school and classroom culture, and developing friend groups. To support multilingual learners to thrive in the classroom, teachers must identify the specific barriers their students face, gather data to understand their academic challenges, and plan for addressing these challenges through instruction.

Transformation of classroom practice is at the center of the solution. Multilingual learners need to spend the majority of the day speaking, writing, and reading English at or above grade level. All teachers need the skills necessary to scaffold instruction for all learners, particularly those who are academically behind their age peers. The targeted strategies that scaffold instruction for multilingual learners are the same strategies necessary to scaffold instruction for striving readers—students reading below grade level in need of additional targeted literacy instruction. These strategies are useful for all students but urgent for the multilingual learner and the striving reader.

Strategies to Support Multilingual Learners

The truth is that the way schools have traditionally approached meeting multilingual learners’ needs isn’t working. Often pull-out services are thirty to sixty minutes of the student’s day, and upon returning to the other academic subject classes, these students work with teachers who feel ill equipped to support language development of multilingual learners across the academic day. Schools often overrely on the thirty- to

sixty-minute targeted support to develop English proficiency. Multilingual learners thrive and become proficient in English much more quickly when they are given opportunities throughout the day to increase vocabulary and practice speaking, reading, and writing in English. A period of thirty to sixty minutes is not sufficient; these opportunities must be available most hours of the day. If we’re going to change this reality, we must embrace a paradigm shift.

The current thinking is that teachers know how to teach multilingual learners but lack the will. This paradigm was on display at a meeting I recently attended with leaders from several districts. When the conversation moved to concerns about the lack of progress of multilingual students across all grade levels, many people chimed in to share ideas about why this was so. Consider the following reasons they suggested.

• Teachers want to send multilingual learners down the hall to someone who knows how to help them.

• Teachers don’t own the students.

• Teachers think it takes too much time.

• Teachers know what to do but don’t want to do the work.

• We have plenty of materials that no one uses.

• We have no materials to support multilingual learners.

• We need to teach them in their native language.

• It takes several years for multilingual learners to be able to learn in English.

• We need more pull-out classes.

It’s time for a new approach. Multilingual students gain academic language skills when teachers explicitly teach the skills and provide opportunities to practice; students need repeated opportunities throughout the day. This dedicated time can be built into the school day naturally by altering the classroom structure for the whole class, where classroom routines include vocabulary instruction, reading, dialogue, and writing most hours of the day. Change of practice that supports the scaffolding multilingual learners need requires a deliberate approach to professional learning that includes instructional coaching in every classroom. When the conversation turns from barriers to solutions that address teacher skill and efficacy and focus is placed on supporting evidence-based instruction, we consistently see a surge in student learning (Calderón & Slakk, 2018; Marzano, 2017; Wiliam, 2017).

By 2025, one in six students will be classified as an English learner. Teacher selfefficacy regarding teaching English to students is consistently low. We have an opportunity to change that. Targeted professional learning that is focused on teacher skill acquisition through instructional coaching results in improved student learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Joyce & Showers, 2002; Killion & Harrison, 2017; Kraft, Blazar, & Hogan, 2018). Research-based priority instructional strategies, when implemented well across every subject area across every day, make a significant difference for multilingual students. Honigsfeld and Nordmeyer (2020) identify the importance of merging what is known about targeted professional learning and the increased use of evidence-based strategies to accelerate learning for multilingual learners.

Eliminating separate, fragmented, disjointed and segregated instruction for students learning English in favor of collaboratively planned and delivered classes can improve the multilingual learners’ socialemotional, linguistic, and academic development. . . . Thus, meaningful teacher collaboration—sharing successful instructional strategies, examining student data, reflecting on effective teaching practice—is key to student success.

These targeted skills focus on speaking and dialogue, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency, and writing—instructional strategies that positively impact all learners and must happen in classroom instruction.

In her decades of research, Calderón (2007) has identified three primary evidencebased strategies for multilingual learners focusing on vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing. Embedded within each strategy is an emphasis on dramatically increased opportunities for dialogue and practice. While components of each of the strategies may be present in most classrooms, it is the specific attention to the steps within each strategy that closes the academic learning gaps. While most teachers would indicate that they teach vocabulary, a rationale and steps for teaching vocabulary are needed to deepen learning. In the case of the vocabulary routine, Calderón outlines seven specific strategies for teaching the vocabulary routine. The vocabulary routine uses strategies such as teacher modeling, student practice, and partner practice. Students learn and practice vocabulary words and phrases before reading and dialoguing about an academic reading passage. Each of the identified strategies has clearly articulated steps that need to be followed with fidelity. These seven strategies provide a framework for teacher modeling and for student use of and dialogue with the words they are learning. The routine takes just two minutes but entirely changes the student learning environment by providing both sufficient modeling and student

dialogue and practice. The words selected are not from a list generated outside of the classroom; rather, they are words that the student will utilize in the academic setting. These strategies are utilized throughout the day across all curricular areas. To close the gap for vocabulary learning, multilingual learners need to learn at least 1,500 words across the year. To meet this very achievable goal, students should be learning 2–3 words in each subject area throughout the day, yet teaching the vocabulary words without the context of reading, dialoguing, and writing using those words may not have the intended impact on student learning in the way that reading comprehension, dialogue, and writing protocols cement the learning.

Reading comprehension and writing protocols provide significant opportunities for students to become more proficient readers, speakers, and writers of grade-level academic language. (For more information on the evidence-based strategies, review Calderón’s books Teaching Reading to English Learners, Grades 6–12: A Framework for Improving Achievement in the Content Areas [Calderón & Slakk, 2018] and Teaching Reading and Comprehension to English Learners, K–5 [Calderón, 2011].) Each of the strategies is easily integrated into every subject area through strategic lesson planning and coaching. Whether a first-year teacher or a teacher who has taught for decades, all teachers are able to master these strategies equally well. The task for schools is to create a professional learning model that will ensure that these strategies are being utilized every day in every classroom at rates that will support student language and literacy acquisition and significantly increase dialogue in the classroom. This concerted effort requires a professional learning approach that includes instructional coaching in every classroom. The strategies are impactful when they are:

• Utilized as designed

• Utilized daily

• Practiced verbally

• Content focused

• Utilized in every classroom

• Built into Tier 1 lessons

• Embedded in all support and intervention programs

An initial concern from teachers and administrators may be that instructional shifts in classroom routines and protocols are difficult if they only benefit a small percentage of the students. While this work is planned and intentional for the multilingual student, the methods provide a more concrete framework that benefits all students. These strategies are also recommended for striving readers, students performing on

grade level, and those performing above grade level. When strategies designed to dramatically accelerate the language and literacy skills of multilingual students are deployed daily in the classroom, the literacy levels improve across the entire student population (Calderón & Slakk, 2018). The solution then is to implement these strategies at consistent levels across all classrooms.

Imagine a school day where an English learner had the opportunity to dialogue, learn two or three new words, deeply comprehend a passage, and practice fluency most hours. In addition to any pull-out or push-in intervention, the exponential impact of multiple lessons across the day engaging students in these strategies would yield:

• Four to six chances to practice fluency and comprehension on passages relevant to the subject matter

• Multiple opportunities to dialogue, yielding one or two hours of subject matter practice

• Intentional instruction on ten to twelve vocabulary words

• Four to six chances to produce academic writing passages relevant to the subject matter

When every teacher becomes proficient in these strategies, teacher collective efficacy and teacher efficacy may be impacted. Across a school year, a student who engages in this intentional instructional experience will have practiced fluency and comprehension on more than 700 passages, engaged in 250–400 hours of academic dialogue, and learned 2,000 vocabulary words. You can see how this intentional approach closes learning gaps by expanding the opportunities for students to engage in these pivotal academic components. Figure 1.2 (page 20) aggregates the impact for each individual student when these components are utilized most hours of the day across the year. The impact is exponential and predictably results in more rapid student learning gains.

If this were the experience every day and across the day, student learning would accelerate. When every teacher knows and understands the process and impact of these strategies and restructures lessons to intentionally engage students in this work, students become proficient in academic language at far greater levels in a much shorter time frame. Increasing teacher skill and understanding of these strategies and the research on the impact of these simple adaptations to lessons through instructional coaching will result in acceleration of student learning. To accomplish this reality, it is not reasonable to simply ask teachers to add these strategies. This is the power of instructional coaching in every classroom.

DAILY

10–12 academic vocabulary words

4–6 subject matter passages (fluency & comprehension)

3-4 opportunities for subject matter speaking and dialogue

4–6 opportunities for academic writing

Conclusion

>2000 academic vocabulary words

>720 academic passages

>540-720 opportunities for academic dialogue

>720 academic writing passages

In the next chapter, we’ll explore the role of the schoolwide professional learning plan as a leverage point for accelerating learning for multilingual students. The proposed shift in multilingual student learning that closes the gap seeks a more interactive classroom approach for language practice throughout the day. Multilingual students benefit from the opportunity to dialogue on academic topics, use academic vocabulary, and reference academic reading. These practices are embedded into the professional learning plan and the instructional coaching work. All teachers can provide these opportunities, and the school can deliberately plan differentiated support for teachers through instructional coaching. This requires a well-developed professional learning plan with instructional coaching as a main feature, which we’ll discuss in more detail in chapter 2.

Let’s Talk About the Multilingual Learners in Our School

Set aside time with your team to discuss the multilingual learners in your school, using the following discussion questions to guide the conversation. Use the space provided to take notes if needed.

1. Who are the multilingual learners in our school? What do we know about their background, family life, and personal learning needs?

2. How many multilingual learners in our school exit language support programs and read on grade level within three years?

3. How many students in our school have been in language support programs yet do not read on grade level at the end of five years?

4. What percentage of the school day are multilingual learners spending speaking, reading, and writing in English?

5. How many teachers at our school have the knowledge and skill to consistently (most of the day) support the instructional needs of multilingual learners?

6. According to the district and school data, how many (or what percentage) of classroom teachers in the school are currently moving students consistently in reading and English proficiency?

7. What percentage of teachers indicate they are highly competent and successful teaching multilingual learners?

8. Is the intervention process for striving readers working at our school? Are most students in an intervention setting making more than two years of gains?

Multilingual Coaching for Student Success

Educators around the world are striving to close the achievement gap for multilingual learners. So, why does the gap continue to widen? These students have unique learning needs that must be addressed if they are to thrive. In Coaching for Multilingual Student Success: Intentional Practices to Accelerate Learning and Close Achievement Gaps, author Karen Johannesen Brock illustrates how working with instructional coaches equips K–12 teachers to effectively implement the high-impact strategies that multilingual learners require. This book offers teams a systematic approach to accelerating learning for multilingual students using customized professional learning plans. Creating a successful environment for multilingual learners is in every school’s reach through the support of instructional coaches and targeted practices.

READERS WILL:

຅ Understand multilingual learners’ unique needs

຅ Learn how to design a professional learning plan tailored to their context

຅ Foster supportive and productive teacher-coach relationships

຅ Gain tools and practices to support implementation of professional learning plans

຅ Encounter the high-impact strategies that accelerate learning for multilingual students

“An excellent resource for helping teams take the steps needed to ensure multilingual students succeed! Coaching for Multilingual Student Success provides ample data, resources, and examples to guide educators in getting started. Districts can count on this easy -to -follow book to show them the way.”

— Shanna Martin, Middle School Teacher and Instructional Coach, School District of Lomira, Wisconsin

“Brock provides practical strategies that school and district teams can use to advance learning for their multilingual students. This book’s asset- based approach serves multilingual learners in the core classroom through intentional structures, systems, and instructional coaching. Readers will come away with tangible ways to enhance teacher pedagogy and accelerate learning.”

— Jennifer Throndsen, Director of Teaching and Learning, Utah State Board of Education, Salt Lake City, Utah

SolutionTree.com

“Coaching for Multilingual Student Success unpacks how school systems leverage instructional coaches to support professional learning aligned with a school’s improvement plan. This book brings the work of schoolbased and district-based coaches to life, emphasizing their role in supporting transfer of research-based instructional strategies into routine practice in every Tier 1 classroom."

— Joellen Killion, Coauthor, Elevate School‑Based Professional Learning