Preparing Teachers to Close the Gap: How Innovative Teacher Education Can Help English Learners Succeed

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The Challenge: Persistent Achievement Gaps for English Learners

In America's classrooms, English learners (ELs) consistently underperform compared to their English-proficient peers. Despite decades of educational reforms and specialized programs, this achievement gap persists as one of education's most stubborn challenges.

My research examined a promising approach to this problem: transforming how we prepare teachers to work with English learners. Rather than training only ESOL specialists, what if we equipped every teacher with the skills to effectively teach language and content simultaneously?

A New Approach to Teacher Preparation

Traditionally, English learners were pulled out of mainstream classes for specialized English instruction. While this approach had benefits, it often created an unintended side effect: general classroom teachers sometimes felt less responsible for ELs' learning, viewing these students as primarily the ESOL specialist's responsibility.

The "One-Plus" teacher preparation model takes a different approach by infusing EL-focused content throughout the entire teacher education curriculum. This means all future teachers—whether they're planning to teach math, science, social studies, or any other subject—learn specific strategies for working with English learners in their mainstream classrooms.

The "One-Plus" model is flexible, with different levels of preparation depending on what subjects teachers will teach:

• Basic coverage for all teachers
• More specialized preparation for academic content teachers
• Enhanced training for language arts teachers
• Full ESOL endorsement or certification options

What I Wanted to Know

My research examined whether this approach actually works. Specifically, I asked:

1. How effective are teachers prepared through the One-Plus model at narrowing achievement gaps between ELs and non-ELs?
2. What student factors (like socioeconomic status, ethnicity, disability status) influence academic achievement?
3. What teacher factors (like subject area, grade level taught, class size) affect student outcomes?
4. Did teacher effectiveness in working with ELs improve over time?

The Study: A Large-Scale Analysis

To answer these questions, I analyzed data from 768 preservice teachers who completed the One-Plus preparation program and taught more than 20,800 K-12 students during their student teaching internships. This large sample covered five academic semesters (Fall 2016 through Fall 2018).

The study measured student performance at two points in time:

• Pretest scores: Measuring students' prior knowledge before instruction
• Posttest scores: Measuring learning after the preservice teachers taught their units

By comparing these scores and examining how different student groups performed, I could determine whether the achievement gaps between ELs and non-ELs narrowed after instruction from One-Plus prepared teachers.

What I Found: Promising Results

The Achievement Gap is Real

First, the study confirmed what previous research has shown—there are significant achievement gaps between various student groups at the start of instruction:

• English learners scored approximately 8.5 points lower than non-ELs on pretests
• Students with disabilities scored about 7.2 points lower than students without disabilities
• Low-income students (measured by free/reduced lunch eligibility) scored about 3.7 points lower than higher-income peers
• Black students scored about 3.2 points lower than White students
• Hispanic students scored about 1.4 points lower than White students

The Gap Narrows After Instruction

The most important finding was that One-Plus trained teachers significantly reduced these gaps. After instruction:

• The EL/non-EL gap shrank by approximately 50%
• The gap between low and high socioeconomic status students decreased by about 40%
• The gap between students with and without disabilities narrowed by about 38%
• The gap between Black and White students decreased by about 48%
• The gap between Hispanic and White students decreased by about 26%

While gaps still existed, they were substantially smaller, suggesting that the One-Plus preparation model effectively equipped teachers to better support all students, particularly historically underperforming groups.

The Trend Held Steady

Analyzing data across five semesters revealed that this pattern of improvement was consistent over time. This suggests that the One-Plus model produced a stable, positive effect rather than a one-time anomaly.

Other Important Factors

The research also revealed other interesting patterns:

• Class size matters: Students in smaller classes (fewer than 20 students) had higher achievement than those in larger classes.
• Grade level differences: ELs in higher grade levels faced greater challenges, likely because the language demands increase as students progress through school.
• Subject area effects: After instruction from One-Plus teachers, students' performance in mathematics and science showed particularly strong improvement compared to other subjects.

Why This Matters

These findings have significant implications:

1. Teacher preparation makes a difference. How we prepare teachers can directly impact their ability to narrow achievement gaps.
2. All teachers need EL training, not just specialists. The One-Plus model demonstrates that when all teachers learn strategies for working with ELs, student outcomes improve.
3. Systematic infusion works better than isolated courses. Embedding EL-focused content throughout teacher preparation seems more effective than offering standalone courses on working with diverse learners.
4. Equipping teachers with specific strategies helps. The One-Plus model provides teachers with concrete approaches for making content comprehensible while developing language skills.

Moving Forward: Implications for Education

While this research shows promising results, the achievement gap hasn't disappeared. There's still work to be done. However, the findings suggest several paths forward:

• Teacher preparation programs should consider infusing EL-focused content throughout their curriculum rather than isolating it in specialized courses
• School districts might provide similar professional development to current teachers
• Educational policymakers should consider the role of teacher preparation in addressing persistent achievement gaps
• Researchers should continue investigating what specific components of the One-Plus model contribute most to narrowing achievement gaps

By equipping all teachers with the tools to support English learners effectively, we can move closer to the goal of educational equity—where every student has the opportunity to succeed regardless of their language background.

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Citation:

Ghimire, N. (2020). Narrowing English Learner (EL) achievement gaps: A multilevel analysis of an EL-infused teacher preparation model [Doctoral dissertation, University of Central Florida]. Electronic Theses and Dissertation, 2020-216. https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0023508

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Pull Quotes

"After instruction from teachers prepared in the One-Plus model, the achievement gap between English learners and their peers narrowed by approximately 50%."

"How we prepare teachers matters. Systematic infusion of strategies for teaching English learners throughout teacher education appears more effective than isolated coursework."

"The findings suggest that when all teachers learn strategies for working with English learners, rather than just specialists, student outcomes improve across the board."