COMMENTARY: We’re not giving teachers what they need to support their English learners

This is a critical moment for education in California. After years of attempting to educate students during a pandemic, districts across California are facing unprecedented teacher shortages and burnout.

We need to do all we can to better support our teachers; ensuring they have high-quality instructional materials, such as textbooks and other educational tools, to help their students succeed academically is a key part of that.

In California, where English learners make up almost 20% of our student body, it is particularly urgent that teachers have instructional materials that are most effective in supporting the more than one million students who come from families that speak a language other than English. California’s schools cannot be successful if they aren’t addressing the needs of English learners and the inequities in educational access that the pandemic has only exacerbated.

Unfortunately, a recent study of California teachers’ perception of their instructional materials for English learners conducted by the English Learners Success Forum and San Diego State University shows we are falling far short.

In our survey, what we found — while not surprising — was disheartening: More than half of teachers feel their district-provided instructional materials fall short of even moderately supporting them in teaching math and English language arts to students learning English as a second language.

For this study, we partnered with the RAND Corporation’s American Teacher Panel to ensure a broad sample of K-12 math and English language arts teachers in 115 districts across California, with each district comprising over 10% English Learners. The 2,558 participating teachers represented a range of experience – from one to 42 years.

High quality instructional materials can improve instruction and students’ academic outcomes. But only half of teachers reported that their materials do not even moderately help tailor instruction to support English learners. Worse, more than 60% of the teachers said their materials do not have cultural relevance and over 55% said their materials do not even moderately support them in assessing English learners’ language development.

Most secondary teachers are using self-created materials on a daily basis, costing them time and energy. One teacher noted, “the variety provided by our program seems superficial. There might be blurbs here and there, but they lack clarity and details. These need to be fleshed out and explained in better detail.”

Teachers said their materials might include a little tip or a sidebar on a suggested activity for English learners. But, that’s not enough. Teachers know that simply learning vocabulary words separate from the academic concepts does not help students truly attain grade level learning. For English learners to develop both language and content, they must practice speaking, listening, and writing while learning key concepts. Without quality instructional materials that help English learners build on their language development within the context of the broader lesson plans, teachers are being left to supplement on their own.

One Southern California teacher specifically asked for “guidance as to …reliable assessments when teaching English Learners.” And another San Diego teacher wanted “multi language support that is easy for the teacher to implement with some training.” Our teachers are asking for materials that better support their instruction and for the professional development tied to those materials.

If teachers don’t feel prepared to teach their multilingual students and they can’t rely on their materials to support them, then something isn’t working as it should.

In order to improve the quality of teaching and English learner student outcomes, materials must incorporate practices that have been shown to improve outcomes like language development supports that are directly tied to the content knowledge students need to learn. While all students will benefit from these improvements, EL student success depends on it. Teachers know this. The research supports it. It’s time we give our educators the resources that they’re asking for.

Luckily, we see some encouraging progress in California. For example, California’s new math framework includes important shifts in its guidance for supporting multilingual learners. The framework could have huge implications on the instructional materials that content developers create and the materials the state chooses in its coming adoption. Early drafts of the framework   — which we hope will remain in the final version — show a deep understanding of how learning is “fundamentally tied to language development and linguistic processes.” (Chapter 4, p.3). This is good news for all students, but essential for English learners.

These are positive signs but they are not enough.

We all have a role to play. As we continue working to improve the quality of education for our students and teachers, curriculum developers must create content that meets the needs of English learners.

Education leaders need to understand what high-quality instruction materials look like and then adopt those materials. Advocates need to push for the importance of instructional materials that are inclusive of English learners, who are too often sidelined. Only then will teachers have the materials they need to truly provide better instruction for English learners and all students.

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Renae Skarin is senior director, content, at the English Learners Success Forum, a collaboration of researchers, teachers, district leaders, and funders working to improve the quality and accessibility of instructional materials for English learners. William Zahner is an associate professor of mathematics at San Diego State University.

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