English Learner Course Scheduling: Practice, Implications, and Aspirations

<p>Educating English learners (ELs) is a complex, multifaceted job that takes into account numerous constructs, some tangible and others not. For this endeavor to work optimally, all parties need to work closely and rely on each other with the end result in mind: offering a quality and equitable education to ELs that addresses their academic and language needs and propels them to reach their full potential (Baecher, 2014; Dirocco, 1998). One influential factor is course scheduling for content and career areas (Minaya-Rowe, 2015). Using qualitative case study methodology, this dissertation investigates the current process for scheduling ELs through in-depth semi-structured interviews of teachers and administrators involved in the scheduling process and observations of a small group of ELs to determine a) what students understand about current scheduling practices; and b) the impact of the current scheduling process on how content teachers address or do not address ELs’ needs in mainstream classes. Through presentation and analysis of the data, the reader will learn more about how ELs’ education at LUHS is impacted and whether introducing a new cohort model has a place in scheduling classes for ELs. The data revealed that students were unaware of current scheduling practices and the rationale behind these practices. They were also unaware of other areas impacted by the scheduling process, such as high school graduation rates and college admission processes. The participants saw value in establishing a new scheduling model based on cohorts.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership (Ed.D)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• SIMMONS, AZIZA

Contributors dc:contributor

• Megan Adams
• Albert Jimenez

• cohort model
• English language learners
• English learners
• ESOL
• secondary ELs
• scheduling
• homogeneous grouping
• Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/teachleaddoc_etd/34

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu:teachleaddoc_etd-1035