Teacher-led professional development: Changing perception, practice, and outcomes for long-term English learners

This case study explores how teacher-designed and facilitated professional development (PD) that emphasized long-term English learners’ (LTELs) needs impacted perception, practice, and outcomes in an urban high school. As part of the multiphase design, the PD sessions were informed by data from teacher interviews, surveys, and LTEL performance outcomes. Thirty teachers and 147 English learners (ELs), 58 of whom were LTELs, then reflected on post-PD changes in practice and perception. Findings indicated that teacher-led PD with emphasis on LTELs impacted teachers’ sense of responsibility for LTEL performance on the state’s English language proficiency assessment (ELPA) and that ELs took the test more seriously than in previous years. Additionally, LTELs’ performance on the ELPA yielded an increase of LTEL reclassification rates post-PD. These findings suggest the critical role teacher-led PD can have on enhancing LTELs’ outcomes and the importance of educators perceiving and enacting a shared obligation for the education of ELs.