Impact of a multiyear professional development intervention on science achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students

This study examined the impact of the 3‐year implementation of a professional development intervention on science achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students. Teachers were provided with instructional units and workshops that were designed to improve teaching practices and foster positive beliefs about science and literacy with diverse student groups. The study involved third, fourth, and fifth grade students at six elementary schools in a large urban school district during the 2001 through 2004 school years. Significance tests of mean scores between pre‐ and posttests indicated statistically significant increases each year on all measures of science at all three grade levels. Achievement gaps among demographic subgroups sometimes narrowed among fourth grade students and remained consistent among third and fifth grade students. Item‐by‐item comparisons with NAEP and TIMSS samples indicated overall positive performance by students at the end of each school year. The consistent patterns of positive outcomes indicate the effectiveness of our intervention in producing achievement gains at all three grade levels while also reducing achievement gaps among demographic subgroups at the fourth grade. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 726–747, 2008     

Teachers' perceptions of policy influences on science instruction with culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students

This study asked elementary school teachers how educational policies affected their science instruction with a majority of English language learners. The study employed a questionnaire followed by focus group interviews with 43 third and fourth grade teachers from six elementary schools in a large urban school district with high populations of English language learners in the southeastern United States. Results indicate that teachers' opinions concerning all areas of policy evolved as the state enforced stronger measures of accountability during the 2‐year period of the study. Although relatively positive regarding standards, their opinions became increasingly negative regarding statewide assessment, and even more so toward accountability measured by reading, writing, and mathematics. The results suggest that it is important to understand how teachers perceive the influence of policies, particularly those relating to English language learners, as science accountability becomes more imminent across the states. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 725–746, 2007     

Science knowledge and cognitive strategy use among culturally and linguistically diverse students

Science performance is determined, to a large extent, by what students already know about science (i.e., science knowledge) and what techniques or methods students use in performing science tasks (i.e., cognitive strategies). This study describes and compares science knowledge, science vocabulary, and cognitive strategy use among four diverse groups of elementary students: (a) monolingual English Caucasian, (b) African-American, (c) bilingual Spanish, and (d) bilingual Haitian Creole. To facilitate science performance in culturally and linguistically congruent settings, the study included student dyads and teachers of the same language, culture, and gender. Science performance was observed using three science tasks: weather phenomena, simple machines, and buoyancy. Data analysis involved a range of qualitative methods focusing on major themes and patterns, and quantitative methods using coding systems to summarize frequencies and total scores. The findings reveal distinct patterns of science knowledge, science vocabulary, and cognitive strategy use among the four language and culture groups. The findings also indicate relationships among science knowledge, science vocabulary, and cognitive strategy use. These findings raise important issues about science instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students.     

Culturally familiar tasks on reading performance and self-efficacy of culturally and linguistically diverse students

Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of constructivism and social cognitive theory, this study examined utilising culturally responsive pedagogy through a Latino themed reading task with the intention of increasing reading achievement and reading self-efficacy beliefs for culturally and linguistically diverse students. The research was conducted in an urban middle school in the south-western United States with 43 seventh grade students whose age ranged from 12 to 13 years. The majority of participants in this study reported to be Hispanic or multiracial with Hispanic origins. This study’s findings added to the existing knowledge base regarding the effectiveness of culturally responsive teaching practices. More specifically, culturally responsive pedagogy was utilised in the form of a reading task to examine its influence on students’ recall and reading comprehension performance. Furthermore, the findings of this study suggest that a culturally familiar reading task may increase reading self-efficacy beliefs. Implications for primary and secondary teachers, administrators, parents, and students pertain to the importance of utilising culturally responsive pedagogy as a teaching method to increase reading achievement and reading self-efficacy for culturally and linguistically diverse students.     

Multidimensional ability tests and culturally and linguistically diverse students: Evidence of measurement invariance

Ability tests are used by teachers to provide additional context for interpreting student achievement and as a tool for differentiating instruction to the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of students. Tests that provide the most useful information for these purposes measure school-related content domains including verbal and quantitative reasoning. However, there is concern that verbal content affects validity for culturally and linguistically diverse students. In this study, the structure of a multidimensional ability test of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning skills was explored in three groups of students who varied in language and cultural background. Configural invariance and invariant factor loadings were supported, but the verbal battery showed weaker relationships to the other batteries and reduced variability for English learners. Results indicate that battery-level scores are appropriate for all students, but that accounting for educational opportunity may be required for interpreting scores.     

Guidelines for serving linguistically and culturally diverse young children

Demographic trends indicate that all early childhod educators must anticipate and plan for a more linguistically and culturally diverse student population. This article will serve as a guide for creating more effective early childhood programs serving linguistically and culturally diverse young children. The discussion includes demographic trends, second language acquisition research, historical trends in bilingual education, ESL and bilingual programs, controversies, assessment and ESL students, and program recommendations.     

Improving science inquiry with elementary students of diverse backgrounds

This study examined the impact of an inquiry‐based instructional intervention on (a) children's ability to conduct science inquiry overall and to use specific skills in inquiry, and (b) narrowing the gaps in children's ability among demographic subgroups of students. The intervention consisted of instructional units, teacher workshops, and classroom practices. The study involved 25 third‐ and fourth‐grade students from six elementary schools representing diverse linguistic and cultural groups. Quantitative results demonstrated that the intervention enhanced the inquiry ability of all students regardless of grade, achievement, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), home language, and English proficiency. Particularly, low‐achieving, low‐SES, and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) exited students made impressive gains. The study adds to the existing literature on designing learning environments that foster science inquiry of all elementary students. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 337–357, 2005     

A promising science and literacy instructional model with Hispanic fifth grade students

Abstract

This study evaluated the Science and Literacy Instructional Model aimed at helping primarily Hispanic bilingual/English Learners (ELs) and economically disadvantaged fifth grade students with science achievement as measured by high-stakes standardized science achievement scores. The model combined purposeful planning, innovative academic vocabulary instruction, and a Lesson Design Lab. Difference-in proportions tests were used to determine if students at two school campuses showed positive achievement gains on a state science test. This study found statistically significant results with medium to large effect sizes at both campuses. Findings contribute to much needed research, practice, and policy in the area of effective models to assist both teachers and students in an era of high-stakes testing.     

Teaching and learning science in linguistically diverse classrooms

In this paper we reflect on the article, Science education in a bilingual class: problematising a translational practice, by Zeynep Ünsal, Britt Jakobson, Bengt-Olav Molander and Per-Olaf Wickman (Cult Stud Sci Educ, doi: 10.1007/s11422-016-9747-3). In their article, the authors present the results of a classroom research project by responding to one main question: How is continuity between everyday language and the language of science construed in a bilingual science classroom where the teacher and the students do not speak the same minority language? Specifically, Ünsal et al. examine how bilingual students construe relations between everyday language and the language of science in a class taught in Swedish, in which all students also spoke Turkish, whereas the teacher also spoke Bosnian, both being minority languages in the context of Swedish schools. In this forum, we briefly discuss why close attention to bilingual dynamics emerging in classrooms such as those highlighted by Ünsal et al. matters for science education. We continue by discussing changing ontologies in relation to linguistic diversity and education more generally. Recent research in bilingual immersion classroom settings in so-called “content” subjects such as Content and Language Integrated Learning, is then introduced, as we believe this research offers some significant insights in terms of how bilingualism contributes to knowledge building in subjects such as science. Finally, we offer some reflections in relation to the classroom interactional competence needed by teachers in linguistically diverse classrooms. In this way, we aim to further the discussion initiated by Ünsal et al. and to offer possible frameworks for future research on bilingualism in science education. In their article, Ünsal et al. conclude the analysis of the classroom data by arguing in favor of a translanguaging pedagogy, an approach to teaching and learning in which students’ whole language repertoires are used as valuable resources for constructing meaning and for developing academic competences in the language of instruction. This is a conclusion that we support wholeheartedly and an educational practice that we hope to promote with this forum discussion.     

The Early Development Index and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

The Early Development Index (EDI) is a teacher‐completed checklist, intended to be a population‐level tool to measure children's readiness for school and to alert communities to potential developmental problems in children. In response to the increasing popularity of the EDI, this paper provides a critical and timely evaluation and identifies the areas for improvement and modifications. The paper aims: (1) to identify the limitations of the EDI as a universal screening tool, particularly with regard to children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD); (2) to alert readers to the potential negative implications of the current EDI for communities and society, and (3) to recommend ways for improvement so that the EDI will become a valid and culturally appropriate screening tool for monitoring early development in CALD children. The ultimate aim is to help build an education system and a society that can respect cultural and individual differences.     

Assessing the cognitive abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse students: Predictive validity of verbal,quantitative, and nonverbal tests

Verbal and quantitative reasoning tests provide valuable information about cognitive abilities that are important to academic success. Information about these abilities may be particularly valuable to teachers of students who are English‐language learners (ELL), because leveraging reasoning skills to support comprehension is a critical aptitude for their academic success. However, due to concerns about cultural bias, many researchers advise exclusive use of nonverbal tests with ELL students despite a lack of evidence that nonverbal tests provide greater validity for these students. In this study, a test measuring verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning was administered to a culturally and linguistically diverse sample of students. The two‐year predictive relationship between ability and achievement scores revealed that nonverbal scores had weaker correlations with future achievement than did quantitative and verbal reasoning ability scores for ELL and non‐ELL students. Results do not indicate differential prediction and do not support the exclusive use of nonverbal tests for ELL students. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Service learning: preparing teachers to understand better culturally and linguistically diverse learners

Almost a decade ago, the new subject of citizenship was created in the English National Curriculum and several universities were funded to train teachers in this new subject. This presented a rare challenge, namely how to train people to teach a subject that did not exist in schools, and in which they were unlikely to have a specialist degree. In this article we have taken the opportunity afforded by the tenth birthday of the report in which Crick recommended this curriculum reform to reflect on that experience from the perspective of teacher educators. Through reflecting on the case study of citizenship education in England we highlight several themes that are of more general interest to teacher educators. The key issues that have emerged in this case study relate to the general problems of translating central policy into classroom practice; the nature and aims of subjects in the curriculum; and the identities of teachers in secondary schools. The article illustrates how teacher educators responded to the formidable challenge of creating (or at least contributing to) a new subject and a subject community.     

Learning-related behaviors and literacy achievement in elementary school-aged children

This longitudinal study investigated associations between children's learning-related behaviors and literacy achievement in an ethnically diverse sample of low-income children throughout elementary school. Children's literacy and learning-related behavior (e.g., working independently, seeking challenges) were assessed when they were in kindergarten or first grade and again in the third and fifth grades. The results showed fair consistency over time in both learning-related behaviors and literacy skills. Learning-related behaviors in one grade predicted literacy achievement in the subsequent grade in which it was assessed, but literacy skills did not predict subsequent learning-related behaviors.     

The impact of an integrated approach to science and literacy in elementary school classrooms

This study investigates the efficacy of an integrated science and literacy approach at the upper‐elementary level. Teachers in 94 fourth grade classrooms in one Southern state participated. Half of the teachers taught the treatment unit, an integrated science–literacy unit on light and energy designed using a curriculum model that engages students in reading text, writing notes and reports, conducting firsthand investigations, and frequent discussion of key concepts and processes to acquire inquiry skills and knowledge about science concepts, while the other half of the teachers taught a content‐comparable science‐only unit on light and energy (using materials provided by their districts) and provided their regular literacy instruction. Students in the treatment group made significantly greater gains on measures of science understanding, science vocabulary, and science writing. Students in both groups made comparable gains in science reading comprehension. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 631–658, 2012     

The validity of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for culturally and linguistically diverse Head Start children

The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) is a social-emotional assessment widely used by early childhood educational programs to inform early identification and intervention efforts. However, its construct validity is not well-established in independent samples of children from low-income backgrounds. We examined the construct validity of the teacher report of the DECA using a series of confirmatory factor analyses, exploratory factor analyses, and the Rasch partial credit model in a large sample of culturally and linguistically diverse Head Start children (N = 5,197). Findings provided some evidence for consistency in the factor structure of the three Protective Factors subscales (Initiative, Self-Control, and Attachment); however, the factor structure of the Behavioral Concerns subscale was not replicated in our sample and demonstrated poor fit to these data. Findings suggested that the 10 items of the published Behavioral Concerns subscale did not comprise a unidimensional construct, but rather, were better represented by two factors (externalizing and internalizing behavior). The use of the total Behavioral Concerns score as a screening tool to identify emotional and behavioral problems in diverse samples of preschool children from low-income backgrounds was not supported, especially for internalizing behavior. Implications for the consequential validity of the DECA for use as a screening tool in early childhood programs serving diverse populations of children and directions for future research are discussed.     

The impact of a Framework‐aligned science professional development program on literacy and mathematics achievement of K‐3 students

This study investigates the effect of a Framework‐aligned professional development program at the PreK‐3 level. The NSF funded program integrated science with literacy and mathematics learning and provided teacher professional development, along with materials and programming for parents to encourage science investigations and discourse around science in the home. This quasi‐experimental study used a three‐level hierarchical linear model to compare the Renaissance STAR Early Literacy, Reading, and Mathematics scores from 2015 to 2016 of K‐3 students in treatment and control classrooms in a large Midwestern urban school district. The statistically significant results indicate that, on average, every year that a student has a program teacher adds 8.6 points to a student's spring STAR Early Literacy score, 17.0 points to a student's STAR Mathematics score, and 41.4 points to a student's STAR Reading score compared to control students. Implications for early elementary teacher education and policy are discussed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54:1174–1196, 2017