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The leadership projects my colleagues and I decided to conduct were gathering English Learner resources for teachers and creating a parent workshop so parents could help their students grow at home. Based on my colleagues' identities and positionalities we agreed that English Learners and English Learner parents were a vulnerable group that experienced marginalization in the form of receiving less resources. The teachers in the group noted that resources provided in the classroom for targeted English Learners were scarce and often advanced compared to their student’s needs, and thought parents could use support on how to help their students at home. They also felt that instructional time restrictions and planning time were insufficient to address their student’s needs in the classroom. Nearly every member had a personal experience being an English Learner and could empathize with the struggles and frustrations their students experienced in the classroom as well as having different experiences with their own parents being supportive. We co-constructed our actions along with input from parents to collect resources and information for parents to bring to our teachers as well. My role during this process was to hear the teachers' and parents’ input, understand their concerns and analysis of the problem, and then guide the members toward an agreed-upon action plan. I gave each member time to voice their ideas and I collaborated with parents to let them know what our group came up with, which allowed us to further create something that worked for all stakeholders. Through these actions, an immediate short-term outcome was that teachers would have another resource that they could use with their English Learner students immediately and easily within the classroom. A long-term outcome was that parents would be able to use the strategies and information shared with their students for many years to come. We also developed a relationship with the parent center that will allow us to get their feedback and suggestions for future workshop topics they express interest in attending.
During the early discussions with the Reciprocal Learning Partnership (RLP) members, teachers pulled up their class data from i-Ready ELA, as well as from DIBELS progress monitoring. As the team members discussed their class and individual student data, the team was very open and free to discuss and draw similarities to their own class and student analysis. Teachers would point to informal and qualitative data that would suggest that students were able to comprehend reading passages either when given the time or when read out loud to them which they contrasted to the timed assessments from DIBELS and how students would score Far Below Benchmark on multiple assessments. This had them thinking about their students' assists rather than deficits as the conversations continued. As the intervention coordinator, I was able to add depth to the conversation for many of the students I provide intervention services to from the teachers in the RLP group. The performance observations teachers saw from their students were not matching how students were performing or more accurately expected to perform in the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) and Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) English Language Arts (ELA) assessments. We then moved the conversation towards providing our struggling readers who were mostly English Learners with more supports. A teacher suggested getting familiar with an English Learner application which was going to be an easy resource teachers could implement with the English Learners. However, teachers still felt unfamiliar with the app, and the school's priority shifted to preparing students for the new ELPAC interim assessment which gave teachers less time to implement with their students. Although teachers did not use the application, they still expressed interest in trying to use it in the future. Our other initiative was conducting a parent workshop with feedback from parents. After discussing with parents and the team we decided to choose SBA ELA as our topic and show strategies for our English Learner parents to help their students develop their critical thinking skills at home as well. The parents were very receptive to the strategies and appreciative of the connection to the example SBA ELA questions. We have yet to see results as the school is still preparing for the SBA assessments but teachers are optimistic about results based on their in-class observations and student work.
After going through the RLP cycle and implementing the co-constructed actions something I would change is having more opportunities to support teachers in implementing the use of the English Learner application in class. We discussed using the application initially and teachers seemed excited about the use but we quickly moved on to planning for the parent workshop and momentum for the application was lost. I should have been more involved in touching base with the teachers and asking what kind of support they could use. Planning the parent workshop was something that I was happy with as far as the process goes. We heard input from the entire RLP team and several parents before agreeing on a final topic. At first, the topic was going to revolve around specific English Learner strategies and resources and discussing the long-term ramifications of identifying as an initial English Learner when enrolling. After speaking with my principal, RLP team, and parents we decided to focus on strategies parents could help students with at home in preparation for the SBA ELA assessment. Parents had a high interest in the upcoming SBA and the strategies the team was considering were for developing comprehension and vocabulary skills. Once the team heard that the parents wanted help to prepare their students for the SBA we focused on helping students become familiar with the variety of questions they could encounter. This change was in direct response to the parents’ suggestions and was held highly by the teachers in the group. One of the challenges after agreeing upon a workshop topic was scheduling a date and time that worked for the parent center as well as for myself. Something I was considering early on was holding the meeting right after a coffee with the principal or the morning Monday assembly to get any parents that were already there. After discussing it with the principal we considered that the length of time they need to be committed to attend both was too much to ask and that we should hold the workshop on its own day. The parent center usually holds the meetings during the mornings with the same four to five parents attending. In a discussion with the principal, we agreed that trying after school would be something that might work to get new parents into the meeting as they were picking up their students. This seemed to turn out well because we had eight parents turn up for the workshop.
Nearly every member of the RLP team had experienced growing up as an English Learner. This played into the selection of the equity problem and into their understanding of what problems many of our current English Learner students could be facing at school. This connection also drew a unique sense of responsibility in assisting student growth and progress toward reclassification. Another member did not have an English Learner experience but stated that he was picked on for having an accent and was made to feel different and excluded at times and could understand the isolation many newcomers or English Learners could feel. This teacher is also our current English Learner Coach and works with many of our English Learners personally. Each member also noted that they have several English Learners in the classroom and feel as through the grade-level curriculum resources provided is insufficient in addressing their individual students’ needs. They expressed frustration in not being able to find time and resources to help these students that they know need more assistance to access the grade level material or to build up other skills needed to help them make progress toward reclassification.
Once we agreed on targeting English Learners as the students facing marginalization, conversations carried into specific struggles they face. Members then began referencing state testing and how it is not capturing their students' skills seen in the classroom. They expressed frustration with the foundational reading skills test and how their students get anxious knowing there is a one-minute timer for them. They contrasted this to their students' ability to decode although at a slower rate and still comprehend the story and answer questions. When speaking about ELPAC and SBA ELA teachers mentioned how many of the reading passages require background information that their students do not have yet and they struggle to understand the context rather than give a specific assessment of skills in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. After hearing teacher discussions I felt my role was to gather their thoughts and ideas and help form an action plan that each member felt comfortable with supporting. I wanted to help validate everyone’s input and voice while also reminding them that we can only bring change to our school site and address issues we can control.
After going through this leadership project I can understand the complexities and dedication it takes to follow through on a project to be completed with fidelity. Before this experience, I would say I was expecting things to run smoothly without many problems. However, the variety of different elements made it easy for things to change and required flexibility when implementing our action plan. Having grace with my RLP members was also a learning experience for me because I have been quite used to doing many things on my own and having to check in with multiple people and ask if they have followed through on their next step in our action plan was not easy for me. Teachers are already so overworked and stressed I felt I did not want to add to that and ask them multiple times to follow through with their steps knowing how they already feel. This makes me reflect on getting to know my teachers better so I know who I can go to for input and who I can rely on to follow through on a project. I think getting input from people who may not have the time or stamina to contribute is still very important in building a sense of belonging and inclusion amongst the staff and referring to the same out-of-the-class leadership team for ideas and actions can build division. Just because someone may not be able or willing to follow through on particular ideas or actions does not mean they can not have ideas that may contribute to something more. I think one of my leadership qualities is that I understand that input and ideas need come from a variety of sources and that going to the same people repeatedly may create an echo chamber and the same ideas end up being repeated with the same outcomes. So even though steps with the English Learner application were not followed through all the way up to implementation I still feel that the teachers gained knowledge on a great resource to use in the future. Overall, getting to work with more people on a specific project to address an equity issue was an informative experience. Having a great working relationship with a variety of people becomes important. I found myself communicating with more people over the course of developing the parent workshop than I have done for other projects or events. I collaborated with two teachers, the English Learner Coach, the Resources Specialist Program teacher, the Principal, multiple parents, the Parent Center representative, and a teacher assistant. Each of these members had a role in creating the idea or making logistical steps to make it as successful as possible. This has helped me understand that continuing to build these relationships will make me a stronger leader as I try to collaborate with the staff to address larger school-wide equity issues.
Through the RLP cycle, I gained great insight into the possibilities of how to tackle equity concerns at the school site. As a future administrator, I would use the RLP cycle framework to help ground my staff and project team members when creating action plans to address equity, social, and racial justice issues we identify at the school site. I want to be a leader who understands and takes into account my staff’s identity and positionality to help bring voice to concerns through their unique understanding and viewpoint. When the community experiences any sort of social or racial concern it is in the school’s interest to address it with context and a variety of input from staff, students, and parents when students are being affected by it. As a social justice leader I plan to stand up for and create space for marginalized groups so that they may begin to feel heard, seen, respected, and given the support they need to reach their full potential as a scholar. Taking time to learn about my community and its needs and dreams in times of struggle will be especially important to help the school community grow. Having authentic care honestly does have to be taken into consideration when leading work for equity, and social and racial justice. Students and community members will see and feel the difference between someone truly caring and someone just trying to check off a box. Being open and sharing my own identity and positionality openly will help build relational trust with my school community and the course toward co-creating action plans with all stakeholders.
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