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NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNALVOLUME 31, NUMBER 3, 2014

FACTORS AFFECTING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SHELTERED

INSTRUCTION OBSERVATION PROTOCOLS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE

LEARNERS

Carlos Trevino CalderonErnest Zamora

Walden University

ABSTRACT

This article summarizes a sequential mixed methods case study of the influence of teacher attitude on the implementation of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocols (SIOP). The study explored how those attitudes affect the program’s effectiveness. The qualitative component of the study was used to identify two comparison groups of teachers and the quantitative component used independent sample t tests of reading and math exams to compare the academic performance of students across the two teacher groups. While the results of the t tests, comparing mean academic performance, were not statistically significant, the findings demonstrated a slight advantage to those students who were taught by teachers with more positive attitudes toward the SIOP model. The social change implications include improved academic performance of ELL students by informing school leaders’ decisions about meaningful professional development, customizing curricula, building awareness among course developers in teacher preparation institutions about the needs of second language learners, developing current and meaningful program offerings, and promising delivery practices for teachers.

Introduction

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21 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL

he term English Language Learner (ELL) refers to students who are in the process of acquiring English because they have another language as their native and primary method of

communication. Texas has the second largest number of ELL students Tin the nation with only California surpassing it (Fry, 2007). In the 2007-2008 school year, 16.6 % of the total student population enrolled in Texas public schools (775,432 students) were classified Limited English Proficient (LEP) (Texas Education Agency, 2009). From 1997 to 2008, public school enrollment in Texas increased 19.8%, but the number of LEP students grew by 49.1% (Texas Education Agency, 2009). In Texas, 78% of all students receive a regular high school diploma, but only 39% of ELLs achieve the same (Zehr, 2010). The repercussions that result from an individual’s failure to attain a high school diploma include an estimated $250 billion cost to the federal government as a result of lost wages, lost tax revenue, and a greater reliance on social services (Stanard, 2003). With 80% of ELLs being Latino and the workforce predicted to be increasingly Latino, this data is troubling for both Texas and for the nation (Echaveste & Edley, 2009). There is a diminished quality of life for the high school dropout, which includes a lower standard of living and oftentimes involvement in criminal activity. Stanard (2003) showed that 82% of the prison population is comprised of high school dropouts. The institutionalization rate for high school dropouts is 63 times greater than that for college graduates (Sum, Khatiwada, McLaughlin, & Palma, 2009).

This study delved into the issue of underperformance by ELL students by looking at the effects of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocols (SIOP) implementation in the classroom (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008a). More specifically this study attempted to discern how teacher attitude towards the implementation of SIOP, and other similar ELL interventions, affects the effectiveness of the strategies and in turn ELL performance. The results of this study offer schools and school districts information which they can use to plan staff development, modify curricula, and identify instructional support paradigms to better meet the needs of all students.

Carlos Trevino Calderon & Ernest Zamora 22

Nature of the Study

This inquiry studied the students and teachers of a small school district in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. According to the latest information on the district’s website, Study ISD has an enrollment of 5,516 students. Of the total district population, 99.1% of the students are of Hispanic descent and 29.4% are classified ELL.The study included the 5th grade ELL students in the district’s four elementary schools and their teachers. The sample for this study was nonprobability, purposive sampling and included 222 students and 12 teachers.

Looking both at causality and meaning, the study included both qualitative and quantitative features. The methodology for this study involved the collection and analysis of several sources of evidence including interviews, surveys, documents, classroom observations, and data from Data Management for Assessment and Curriculum (DMAC) Solutions. DMAC Solutions is a web-based software suite used by the district for the management of curriculum and assessment data, including the 6 weeks Curriculum Based Assessments (CBA).

Research Questions

The guiding question for this sequential, mixed methods study was whether or not a teacher’s attitude towards SIOP and other ELL strategies affected the implementation of those programs and consequently their effectiveness. In order to address this guiding question, qualitative data was collected through surveys, observations, and interviews. The qualitative questions addressed were:


1. What perceptions do teachers of ELL students have regarding their ability to support the academic achievement of ELLs?

2. What perception do teachers of ELL students have concerning SIOP and other strategies or interventions designed to address the needs of ELLs?

3. How does a teacher’s perception of SIOP affect implementation of the program?

The goal of the qualitative component was to discover teachers’ feelings and attitudes towards the SIOP intervention and their having to use it as a strategy when working with ELL students. This information assisted in the identification of teachers with a more positive attitude towards the strategy and those who demonstrated evidence of resistance and apprehension towards using it. The qualitative component allowed for the identification of two distinct groups for a comparison.

The second phase of the study was the quantitative component, and it involved searching for a relationship between the two groups using an analysis of performance data. This phase of the study addressed the following question using test data from the district’s 6 week CBA exams.

1. How does a teacher’s implementation of SIOP relate to the performance of ELL students?

Information from the two components of the study was used to deduce whether or not a significant relationship existed between the academic performances of the student participants in each group. The first stage, by way of its causal aspect, provided information on teacher attitude: a factor that can influence teacher fidelity to the research-based SIOP Model. The second part used assessment data to substantiate if there was a link between a more positive teacher attitude towards SIOP and greater numbers of ELL students meeting the passing standard on the CBA exams. Together the two components


provided insight into reasons affecting ELL success or lack of it. Using both qualitative and quantitative data provided the study with triangulation to increase its credibility and validity.

Literature Review

The key ideas and terms for this literature review included: school reform, effective bilingual and ESL programs, teacher attitude toward ELLs, program implementation resistance, change management, leadership support, role of leadership in school change, organizational health, and effective schools. These areas of interest evolved into three distinct themes. The first of these themes is organizational health and school climate, focusing on the particulars that form the culture of a school including: norms, values, rituals, beliefs, and traditions. School culture was further researched to find how it impacts the dynamics of interacting and teaching ELLs. The second theme was how teacher attitudes, perceptions, and expectations can affect the delivery of instruction and the effectiveness of those efforts on student performance and achievement. The third theme related to instructional support and practices for ELL students and the effectiveness of those strategies in promoting achievement and success for the targeted population.

If teachers are unable to relate to the circumstances of their ELL students they may not completely comprehend the need for some of the interventions and strategies designed for them and fail to implement them completely (Washburn, 2008). The failure in complete implementation may result first and foremost in underperformance by the ELL student and second in the intervention being classified as inadequate. Once a teacher forms the perception that a research based intervention is inadequate they can become frustrated with it and this frustration can lead the teacher to utilize other strategies. The methods they tend to turn to are those with which they are more familiar such as the ones used with them when they were students (Singer & Maher, 2007). If they find those strategies to be ineffective with their students then they may seek to place the


blame on the student and not with the strategy (Darling-Hammond, 2001).

The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocols

The SIOP Model includes features of high quality instruction for all students, along with language objectives in every lesson that specifically address the needs of the ELL (Echevarria, et al., 2008a). Composed of 30 features in eight components, SIOP allows teachers to accommodate the unique second language development needs of ELLs. By pulling together many of the good teaching practices teachers already use and adding targeted instruction for content and language development, SIOP enhances learning for ELL students. The program’s eight components include:

Preparation Building Background Comprehensible Input Strategies Interaction Practice/Application Lesson Delivery Review/Assessment

Each of the eight components has indicators that the teacher can refer to when insuring that the lesson will adequately make the content comprehensible for English learners. Each component has a rubric called the Protocol that is used by teachers and administrators to measure how well the lesson adheres to the certain component. As explained by (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008b), SIOP has two purposes: the first, which they refer to as the Model, serves as the lesson planning and delivery system and the second which they refer to as the Protocol serves to observe, rate and provide feedback on the lessons. Lems, Miller, and Soro (2009) elaborated on the foundational basis of SIOP pointing out that the model is soundly grounded in


Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory and considers the importance of differentiating instruction to meet student needs as well as the dynamic process of learning.

Methodology

The purpose of this sequential, mixed methods study was to understand teacher perceptions and attitudes towards SIOP and other interventions designed to assist ELL students. Furthermore, the goal of the experiment was to explore if a relationship exists between teacher attitudes and perceptions and the academic performance of language minority students in the classroom. The intent of this study was to explore a problem within the confines of a small school district located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and identified in this study as Study ISD.

The results of the qualitative and quantitative components of this study were summarized to address the purpose of this study. The hypotheses considered were whether or not there was a significant relationship between the academic performances of the students in the comparison groups. The null hypothesis proposed that there is no significant relationship between the performance on six weeks CBA exams of ELL students who have teachers with a positive attitude towards SIOP, and those who don’t. The alternative hypothesis proposed that there is a significant relationship between the performance on six weeks CBA exams of ELL students who have teachers with a positive attitude towards SIOP, and those who don’t. The resulting data were used to discern if teacher attitudes and perceptions are possible factors which affect instructional traffic in ELL classrooms.

Setting and Sample

According to data from the district website, Study ISD had an enrollment of 5,516 students for the 2009-2010 school year including 398 fifth graders located in four elementary schools. Furthermore, data on Study ISD’s website revealed that over 99% of the students in the


district were of Hispanic descent and 29.4% were classified ELL. The sample for this study was of a non-probability purposive nature. The student participants selected were chosen because they were ELL and receiving instruction in all English environments as opposed to being taught in their primary language. The teachers in the study were selected because they had been trained in SIOP and were utilizing the intervention with their ELL students and also because they consented to participate. The quantitative analysis of data for this case study included the test scores of all the 5th grade ELL students enrolled in the district’s four elementary schools that were taught by teachers who agreed to participate in the study.

The study was quasi-experimental in its sample, looking at students in their current setting, and exploratory in nature, attempting to discover a relationship between the performances of two comparison groups of ELL students. The variable which was studied was teacher attitude toward the SIOP Model and how that attitude affected implementation of the strategy and student performance. The study was sequential in that it collected qualitative data on teacher attitudes and perceptions before looking at the quantitative data produced by student performance.

Results

Qualitative data for the exploration into the teacher’s perception regarding ELLs and SIOP were gathered using a written survey, an oral interview, and a classroom observation. The written teacher survey consisted of four parts labeled A, B, C, and D and collectively they were used to discover teacher attitudes and perceptions as they relate to ELL students, SIOP, and other strategies or interventions designed to address the needs of ELLs. In an effort to add validity to the outcomes of the qualitative component of this study, interviews were used to triangulate the written survey’s data. The teachers’ responses yielded much rich data and insight into their perceptions regarding ELL students. The following excerpts


demonstrate some of the contrasting points of view stated by the teachers when asked to describe their perceptions about working with ELLs. An example of what can be viewed as positive perceptions includes the following statement by Teacher 1 who said:

Like I said to me there is really no difference I am teaching a child. Basically sometimes my ELLs can excel and sometimes I get better results from them than my kids who have been here from the beginning of time so for me it’s just the child and you take the child and you work with them and you have to use different things like pictures, drawings, music because they are all gifted in a certain way and once you find that and you tap on it and you develop it.

The teacher accepts that the LEP student is coming into the educational arena with issues that are going to present obstacles but that does not mean that the teacher will have a less positive perception or lower expectation of the student. For example, Teacher 2 said, “They have special needs and I have to do whatever it takes to help them be successful.” Again, this statement demonstrates recognition that there are going to be issues and difficulties when working with this population but that those barriers are not impenetrable. That frame of mind contrast completely with what can be surmised when Teacher 3 said that working with ELLs was, “Very hard, harder I think than working with regular students.” Even the use of the term “regular students” to refer to non ELL students implies that something is not “right” with them and maybe that’s why they can’t achieve.

The third source of qualitative data used in this stage of the study was the classroom observation. The observation, more than the written survey or the interview, allowed the researchers the best opportunity to see what really goes on in the classroom. In an effort to minimize disruption by the presence of an outsider, the teacher and students were observed from the rear of the class and a copy of the SIOP Protocol was used for each observation to jot down field notes of what was observed. As soon as possible, after each visit, and using the


field notes from the SIOP Protocol, details were filled in to compose a more complete description of what was witnessed.

The results suggested that five of the teachers had attitudes and perceptions that were not as positive, in regards to the SIOP Model and ELL student’s ability to be successful, as the other seven teachers. They were also not observed to implement the SIOP strategies as consistently as the other teachers. These five teachers were grouped and labeled ProALT. The other seven teachers demonstrated themselves to have a more accepting attitude towards the SIOP Model and were observed to implement it with more fidelity to design. They also related a more positive and caring attitude towards ELL students along with a sturdy belief in their ability to be a positive force in the lives of their students. Consequently, they were included in the group labeled ProSIOP.

In the quantitative component two independent-measures t test were conducted using the same samples and the same hypotheses. The reason for the two measures was to collect data from the two content areas: reading and math. The CBA test, which is the local assessment used to generate quantitative data, is administered on separate days for the different content areas and some students may be present for one test and absent for the other and vice versa. This information is provided to explain the slight discrepancy in testers for the two content areas. The null hypothesis for the comparison states that there is no significant relationship between the performance on six weeks CBA exams of students in ProALT and ProSIOP groups. The alternative hypothesis states that there exists a significant relationship between the performance on six weeks CBA exams of students in ProALT and ProSIOP groups.

Data from the comparison for reading demonstrated that the ProSIOP group had a mean which was slightly higher than the ProALT group but the difference was not statistically significant. The difference in scores for the ProSIOP group were (M=68.4, SD=16.4) and for the ProALT group (M=67.6, SD=15.4) with conditions; t (216) = −.364, p = .716 and equal variances assumed. These results suggest


a small positive effect on the ProSIOP group but not statistically significant so the alternative hypothesis is rejected and the null hypothesis is retained.

Analysis of the data for the Math CBA demonstrated once again a slightly higher mean for the ProSIOP group than for the ProALT group but once again this difference was not statistically significant. The difference in scores for the ProSIOP group were (M=91.7, SD=10.9) and for the ProALT group (M=90.8, SD=12.4) with conditions; t (220) = −.513, p=.608 and equal variances assumed. Once again the results suggest a small positive effect on the ProSIOP group but not statistically significant so the alternative hypothesis is once again rejected and the null hypothesis is retained.

The results of the calculations showed a slight performance advantage to those students who are taught by teachers with more positive outlooks to ELLs and ELL strategies such as SIOP. However, that advantage was not enough to be statistically significant. While positive teacher attitudes and strategies may be desirable, in this study they did not significantly improve student outcomes.

Recommendations

As an outcome of the overall findings of this study the following implications for social change within teacher preparation programs in universities and other educational entities as well as in ongoing training at the school district level, are presented.

The current model of teacher preparation, especially for

elementary school teachers, which places an emphasis on content as opposed to instructional delivery strategies, needs to be redesigned.

Teachers need to be taught how to provide learning environments that are empathetic to student needs and


culturally sensitive to the values and norms of all the students in their classrooms.

Principals and superintendents, when planning professional developments for their teachers, need to include offerings that address how to make content more meaningful for second language learners.

Conclusion

If ELLs are going to be taught predominately in English then it is imperative that efforts be made to equip their teachers with tools that will allow them to adequately reach more of the students. Strategies such as SIOP have the purpose of minimizing the disparity in content integration between those students who are dominant in English and those who are not. In this study, the SIOP Model was examined specifically whether factors such as teacher attitude impacted its ability to promote successful academic outcomes for language minority students. The findings demonstrated a slight advantage to those students who were taught by teachers with more positive attitudes toward the SIOP strategies as compared to the students of teachers with less enthusiasm for the program.


References

Darling-Hammond, L. (2001). The right to learn. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Echaveste, M., & Edley, Jr., C. (2009). America’s changing demographics. In Mark Green & Michele Jolin (Eds.) Change for America: A progressive blueprint for the 44th president (pp. 204-212). Philadelphia, PA: Basic Books.

Echeverria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008a). Making content comprehensible for English language learners: The SIOP model. Boston, MA:Pearson Education.

Echeverria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008b). The SIOP model for administrators. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Lems, K., Miller, L. D., & Soro, T. M. (2009).Teaching reading to English language learners: Insights from linguistics. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Singer, J., & Maher, M. A. (2007). Preservice teachers and technology integration: rethinking traditional roles. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 18(6), 955-984. doi: 10:1007/s10972-007-9072-5

Stanard, R. P. (2003). High school graduation rates in the United States: Implications for the counseling profession. Journal of Counseling & Development, 81(2), 217-221. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6678.2003.tb00245.x

Sum, A., Khatiwada, I., McLaughlin, J., & Palma, S. (2009). The consequences of dropping out of high school. Boston, MA: Center for Labor Market Studies.

Texas Education Agency. (2009). Enrollment in Texas public schools 2007-08. Austin, TX: Texas Education Agency. Retrieved from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/research/abs2.htm

Washburn, G. N. (2007). Alone, confused and frustrated: Developing empathy and strategies for working with English Language Learners. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 81(6), 247-250.

Zehr, M. A. (2010). Graduation rates on ELLs a mystery: Many states, districts don’t track Data, Education Week, 29(3), 20-21.

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