Description:

This brief presents findings from a survey of elementary principals about the planning and coordinating of the instructional program for English learners (ELs) at their schools. The web-based survey was conducted between February and March 2020. Descriptive summary statistics were computed for the structured items on the survey. All information from the open-ended responses was reviewed, analyzed, and coded to summarize similar comments into themes.  Where applicable, Chi-square tests were conducted to examine relationships between the principals' responses and the type of schools they represented: schools with high/low percentage of ELs, schools with/without ELs with interrupted education, Title I status, and by grade levels housed (K–2, K–5, Pre–5; Grades 3–5).

Recommendations:

• Increase the allocation for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers
• Increase PD offerings on identifying ELs with interrupted education, evaluating ESOL teachers, evaluating general education teachers of ELs, ELs in special education, and how to track the English language development (ELD) of ELs at specific intervals during the school year
• Provide more and a variety of instructional resources for ELD, and particularly valid/appropriate assessment tools for use with beginner or Level 1 ELs and newcomer ELs, and ELs with interrupted education
   

File Name: Principal Survey_ EL Program_ Brief FINAL.pdf (744.9KB PDF)