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Conclusions and Recommendations Research Question

What is the relationship between mentoring, in a professional development program focused on co-teaching, and the mentors’ professional growth in the following areas?

a) Beliefs about the academic capabilities of ELs. b) Practices with instructing ELs.

c) Self-efficacy in their work with ELs.

The nature of the research question called for an exploration of data through multiple data sources in order to find similarities and differences in the professional development (PD) experiences of each participant. According to Cresswell (2013), an exploratory multiple-case study allows a researcher to discover the similarities and differences in the various experiences of the research participants. Additionally, Baxter and Jack (2008), advocate for the use of an exploratory multiple-case study when asking “why” or “how” in a research question. The data collected within the context of this study afforded the opportunity to find the similarities and differences between each participant’s PD experiences within context of The AL Project. Additionally, the data collected created the opportunity to examine how participants experienced PD and to explore its influence on their beliefs, practices, and self-efficacy with respect to ELs. The results of the study are discussed within a transformative learning framework (Mezirow, 1997).

Discussion

Beliefs. Collective data trends reflect the initial existence of positive beliefs among

implementation of practices that match these beliefs. As mentioned in Chapter 4, these beliefs were reflected in the data that showed high levels of agreement toward

academically supporting ELs. The one-on-one interview data reflected mixed beliefs toward the capabilities of ELs, and positive beliefs toward the PD activities of The AL Project. Furthermore, the focus group interview data reaffirmed many of the collective levels of positive beliefs that were initially indicated in the surveys.

The combined data trends show overall positive participant beliefs toward the capabilities of ELs. The survey response data reflect mixed feelings toward lesson modifications for ELs. However, the data also indicate a gap between the participants’ positive beliefs toward ELs, and their classroom practices in supporting ELs.

Additionally, the volunteer nature of The AL Project demonstrates the willingness of teachers to participate in professional growth opportunities, despite the indication of teacher time constraints. These findings suggest that PD programs can be effective, at least for teachers who hold positive beliefs toward the academic capabilities of their EL students but struggle to design lessons that are in conjunction with their own beliefs.

Practices. The survey and interview data suggest that all of the participants held

positive feelings toward many of the activities within the PD experience. These practices included mentoring, co-teaching, working with a university consultant, and collaborating with peers within the context of a PLC. Survey item responses showed general levels of positive feelings toward the PD activities within The AL Project. In particular, all of the participants showed positive responses toward their participation as a mentor teacher, and through their engagement with the elements of co-teaching. Most of the participants also

conveyed positive feelings toward working within a PLC and with ongoing meetings with a university consultant.

Data from both the one-on-one interviews and the focus group interview reflect that

the PD activities within The AL Project provided the mentors with the types of

professional supports needed to engage in a variety of inquiry practices. These practices include opportunities to engage in cycles of inquiry, collaborative dialogue, and ongoing reflection. Research has shown these types of inquiry practices to be effective toward promoting teacher growth and shifting instructional practices (Butler, 2012).

The participant responses toward the role of The AL Project’s inquiry practices varied, depending on the participants’ experience levels in teaching ELs. Additionally, regardless of the experience levels of the participants in this study, data from all of the participants indicated positive feelings toward at least one of the activities within the PD program.

Self-Efficacy. Data trends from both the surveys and one-on-one interviews reflect

varying levels of self-efficacy among the participants throughout the PD experience. For example, at the time of the survey, the participants indicated positive degrees of self-efficacy toward academically supporting ELs. The statements coded as “self- efficacy” presented in the one-on-one interview data partly align with the positive “self- efficacy” trends found within the survey data. Data from the focus group interview reaffirmed the varying levels of self-efficacy growth among the participants as a direct result of the PD experience. Six out of the eight participants indicated growth in self- efficacy as a result of the PD experience. Of the six participants, the research findings

reflect that co-teaching and mentoring helped them to increase their self-efficacy toward academically supporting all students, and ELs in particular. Additionally, participant responses conveyed the need for increased opportunities for teachers to participate as a mentor teacher within a semester-long co-teaching context. These findings show the importance in offering PD programs to teachers that are comprised of activities that promote the professional growth of teachers (Guskey & Yoon, 2009), especially growth opportunities that focus on participants’ beliefs, practices, and self-efficacy toward academically supporting their EL students.

Transformative Learning

As previously discussed, Mezirow’s Theory of Transformative Learning proposes the mechanisms by which experiences can change the frame of reference of the learner (Mezirow, 1997). By changing one’s frame of reference, changes can occur in the learners’ habits of mind (e.g. inquiry practices), and their points-of-view (e.g. beliefs) toward a particular topic. In the context of this research, a transformative learning experience refers to the ways in which teachers utilize the inquiry practices of The AL Project, such as cycles of inquiry, collaboration, and ongoing reflection, to work with their EL students. For example, a frame of reference in this context refers to the ways in which a teacher views the learning capabilities of ELs, and the habits of mind refer to the inquiry practices that teachers use when working to improve their instructional practices toward ELs (e.g. scaffolds). These inquiry practices include ongoing reflection exercises, engaging in cycles of inquiry, and utilizing collaborative opportunities with like-minded people when designing lesson plans that meet the learning needs of ELs.

Stages of PD participant transformation. As discussed in Chapter 4, there were

three participant learning trends that emerged after an analysis of all participant data. After the analysis of participant data trends, this researcher created three learning themes that serve to add to Mezirow’s existing framework on transformative learning. These themes represent a process approach to transformative learning. More specifically, each teacher who participates in a PD experience arrives with existing frames of reference and varying levels of experience. It is important to differentiate PD programs in order to meet the specific learning needs of the participants, regardless of their learning stage. Meeting the learning needs of PD participants can help everyone to experience

professional growth from a PD experience. For the sake of this research, these stages are called “the stages for PD participant transformation.” These stages are elaborated upon in the following sub-sections.

Entering transformation. During the data collection process of this research, participants who were categorized as “entering transformation” provided data showing that they were just learning how to use mentoring and co-teaching as a vehicle for their own professional growth. For example, participants categorized as “entering

transformation” engaged in all elements of PD and found value in working as a mentor, engaging with the activities of co-teaching, collaborating with an ongoing PLC, engaging in cycles of inquiry, and working with a university consultant. Data from the participants in this group reflect the notion of that they were beginning to see the ways in which they could use the activities from the PD experience as a vehicle for their own professional growth. Using mentoring as an example, Ms. Portillo conveyed the idea that mentoring

helped with her own professional growth. She elaborated by saying, “We have someone that is watching us, constantly watching us, and we have to be true role models for those student teachers.” She discussed her beliefs that other teachers will be able to grow professionally from serving as a mentor. She elaborated her opinion with the following statement:

I think to understand this and to see how much you can grow by having this experience; you have to be there. You have to take the opportunity. Because actually, it’s not an increase in work, it’s not; it actually impacts the way we teach.

Continuing with mentoring as an example, Ms. Barnes, also categorized as “entering transformation,” conveyed the ways in which she felt that the mentoring process has given her the ability to focus on her own professional growth within the PD program. She says that mentoring “alleviates some of the burden of the day-to-day tasks, so you have the mental space.” In short, the data reflects that the participants who were categorized as “refining transformation” appeared to find growth opportunities through the use of the inquiry practices within The AL Project. These participants conveyed the use of the various inquiry practices as a way to specifically improve particular

instructional weaknesses. More specifically, they cited the mentoring experience, as a whole, as a vehicle for advancing their own professional growth toward teaching ELs.

Refining transformation. Participants who are categorized as “refining

transformation” provided data showing that they have previously learned that mentoring, co-teaching, and engaging with the other PD activities within The AL Project could play a positive role toward their own professional growth. These participants, in particular, provided data that indicates they have already honed in on their professional weaknesses

and were utilizing specific activities of the PD to strengthen these particular areas of weakness. For example, data from participants in this group indicated using ongoing collaboration from the PLC work (e.g. collaborative conversation) to experience professional growth, as well as utilizing their time with the university consultant to discuss various problems with implementing new practices. Ms. Douglas, a participant categorized as “refining transformation,” discussed ways in which the PD has helped her to grow professionally. During the focus group, she explained that the activities within The AL Project have helped her to “achieve more” and “get to where we believed we could.” She concluded by saying, “we always knew we could get there, we weren’t sure how.” Ms. Douglas contributes much of her professional growth to co-planning and engaging in cycles of inquiry with her co-teacher.

Transformed. Participants who are categorized as “transformed” provided data indicating existing positive beliefs toward the capabilities of ELs, and a strong working knowledge of the instructional practices that improve learning for ELs. These

participants expressed using co-teaching as a way to improve student learning, and they discussed using their co-teacher as an additional classroom resource for student learning. In addition to conveying high self-efficacy toward EL instruction, these participants also indicated some degree of professional growth from working with their co-teaching partners. Much of the described learning involved the polishing of existing instructional strengths, inquiry practices, and absorbing new pedagogy that the teacher candidate is learning from his or her teaching credential program. Responses from these participants show increases in professional growth through co-planning lessons, reflective dialogue,

and analysis of student work. For example, Mr. Lorenzo, who is categorized as

“transformed,” reported during his one-on-one interview that he has increased his use of student-language data as a result of the PD experience. He says, “The [AL] Project has forced me into the standards, into the research, and into databases of what’s available in terms of data of my students. I probably wouldn’t be digging for all of that stuff if I

didn’t have to.” During the focus group, Ms. Margaret, also categorized as “transformed,” discussed ways in which mentoring has helped her to remember many of her prior

instructional practices. She says, “Anytime you’re working with mentors and co-teachers, they bring a sense of what you may have forgotten about your own practice.” She also described the ways in which mentoring required her to be more transparent in her practices. She elaborated on this topic during the focus group with the following statement.

I think the transparency of our practice when you’re working as a mentor teacher, because there are a lot of things that I’ve never been challenged on. “Why did you do that?” And I’m thinking, “Huh?” You know, “Why did you work with that student that way and this student that way?” And so, I might’ve done something a little bit different in terms of, you know, piecing language for an EL student or pushing another student harder and being really transparent about why I’m doing that.

The data from the participants in this category suggest other motivations for participating as a mentor and co-teaching with a teacher candidate. During the focus group, Mr. Lorenzo conveyed that he uses mentoring as a form of school leadership, specifically as a way to make systemic changes to his school’s English department. He says, “So my other role on campus is the English department chair and, in trying to affect school wide change as department chair, I’m trying to get veteran teachers to change their

practices.” He elaborated on his point by saying that participating as a mentor has “given me a new framework to think about the work that I do with other adults on campus. And it’s also making me think about the work that I do with kids and it sort of fits in that same construct as well.”

Ms. Margaret describes other factors that influenced her participation in The AL Project. She seems to approach the experience as a way to give back to the teaching profession. During the focus group, she explained that since she is in the “twilight” of her career, she is “looking to give back and to kind of go viral with the strong feelings, the strong, positive feelings we have about what kids really can do.”

The data from the “transformed” participants indicate that no changes occurred in their beliefs toward ELs. These participants already held strong positive beliefs, and they use the PD experience as a way to spread these beliefs to other teachers. There did not appear to be any professional growth in the area of self-efficacy. Participants categorized as “transformed” indicated existing levels of high self-efficacy. The growth that appeared for these participants occurred in the area of their inquiry practices. This apparent growth occurred due to the need to be transparent in their practices, and the added motivation to deliver their best instruction by having an observer present. Finally, participants

categorized as “transformed” frame their mentoring experiences as both an opportunity for school leadership and as a way to share their own teaching experiences with less- experienced teachers.

Summary. Figure 1 is a visual summary of the stages of PD participant

that focuses on EL instruction need to take each stage into consideration when designing the PD program. It is important to differentiate, or individualize, a PD experience to fit the professional growth needs of the participants, and to ensure that every PD participant maximizes professional growth opportunities through their participation with a PD program. In order to help participants to improve their work with ELs, PD programs need to be tailored toward each stage of PD participant transformation.

Figure 1 Schematic representation of the stages of PD participant transformation

Transformative Learning Implications

These findings suggest that principals and other leaders of PD should acknowledge the PD participants’ previous professional experience and existing knowledge as they enter professional development opportunities. For example, Ms. Margaret, a first-year mentor, was placed in the “transformed” category. It would have been easy to categorize all first-year mentors into the same learning category, but it was through the data

Entering Transformation 1. Introduced to all activities of PD. 2. Found value in PD activities as a vehicle for own professional growth For example, mentoring, co-teaching, attending PD days, and working with an university consultant. Re0ining Transformation 1. Focused on instructional weaknesses. 2. Utilized speciCic PD activities for own growth. For example, reClective dialogue, discussions with university consultant, and using co-teacher as a resource for own learning. Transformed 1. Possessed instructional knowledge for working with ELs. 2. Incorporated teaching candidate as an additional classroom resource to support their students. 3. Used mentoring process for school leadership.

collection process that Ms. Margaret revealed her tremendous amount of knowledge and experiences in teaching ELs. Fortunately, she is a teacher who describes herself as someone who can learn in any situation, and she conveyed positive feelings on her time in The AL Project. In contrast, she could have been a participant with a negative attitude toward a PD program that does not address her professional growth needs. This type of situation could result in a participant who brings negative energy to a PD program, which could ruin the learning experiences for other participants. For these reasons, it is

important to monitor the progress of teachers as they participate in a PD program. By doing so, PD leaders can make the necessary adjustments in order to ensure that participants are progressing through each stage successfully.

Monitoring PD participants through the stages of PD participant transformation can help PD program leaders to determine how to best differentiate their programs so that more participants could experience transformative learning. Due to the low academic success rates of many ELs in California, the goal of transformative learning for teachers is especially important within PD programs focused on EL instruction. Administrators and PD leaders can help to improve the academic growth of thousands of ELs by helping teachers to transform their beliefs, practices, and/or self-efficacy toward their work with ELs. More specifically, it is important for educational leaders to develop PD programs that enable professional growth for groups of participants representing all stages of PD participant transformation. This idea is particularly important for administrators who