Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

Spanish

Two-Way Bilingual Immersion
One-Way Developmental Bilingual Education

Pre-K
Elementary (K-5)

Bilingual and dual language campus leaders who are not provided professional development regarding best practices, programming, and second language acquisition negatively impact students’ academic success. Findings resulting from a phenomenological bound case study will drive the interactive session and include suggestions for present and aspiring bilingual and dual language administrators.

The Wallace Foundation (2012) reported that after teacher instruction, campus leadership ability was the greatest indicator of student success. Yet, the report noted, how to effectively prepare campus leaders for the job is not a focal point of educational reform. Especially at a time when closing the achievement gap and meeting students’ needs, including those of the growing English language learner population, is imperative, the simple fact is that without effective leaders most of the goals of educational improvement will be very difficult to achieve.

The purpose of this presentation is to reveal the findings and implications of a phenomenological bounded-case study that identified campus principals’ perceptions of how principal mentorship influenced their ability to lead a dual language campus in one Texas school district. The research questions that guided this study examined how the principal mentorship program was structured, specific components relating to dual language, and obstacles encountered. Dual language campus principals who received guidance as part of the district principal mentorship program in the Texas school district participated in the study.

Within the scope of this study, the overarching conclusion suggested that dual language principals who are not effectively mentored, including professional development targeting dual language best practices, programming, and second language acquisition, will not be able to provide guidance and support to teachers which directly negatively impacts students’ academic success.

Some of the implications for practice include: principal mentorship programs must be fully structured, mentors must have a deep understanding of leading dual language programs, additive ideologies must be explicitly addressed with campus leaders, and the evident need for cultural proficiency training must be targeted via administrator professional development.