Fourth Annual

Title III Management Institute

May 9-10, 2006

 

 

"Preparing and Supporting Highly Qualified Bilingual/ESL Teachers"

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

For the past nine months, the College of Arts & Sciences and Education at Texas A&M University-Texarkana has been engaged in strenuous efforts to implement an Educator Preparation Program in Bilingual Education as an initial step in the creation of various degree and certification programs including the BSIS for EC-4 Generalist/Bilingual EC-4 certification and EC-4 Generalist/ESL certification, the Bilingual Education Supplemental EC-4 and ESL Supplemental EC-12, and the Alternative Certification Program ACP Bilingual/ESL EC-4. In such a short time we have laid a foundation upon which we plan to build the proposed degree programs. We realize that we have a great challenge ahead of us in attracting the numbers of students that will sustain the programs in the future. This presentation deals with the steps that have been planned to achieve these objectives with the main goal of fulfilling the need for highly qualified bilingual teachers in Northeast Texas.

 

 

 

Educator Preparation Program in Bilingual Education, Texas A&M University-Texarkana

 

Texas A&M University-Texarkana, located on the border of Texas and Arkansas, is an upper level university serving junior, senior and graduate students of Northeast Texas and the three neighboring states of Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The disciplines of Spanish, Bilingual, and ESL Education were created in the spring of this year under the umbrella of the College of Arts & Sciences and Education to provide residents of Northeast Texas with areas of study not offered by a higher education institution in the region. The decision to implement the bilingual/ESL education was based upon the need of school districts in Region 8 for teacher preparation programs that address the academic and linguistic gap of their English Language Learner (ELL) population. Our initiative is also a response to a groundswell of interest expressed by our students and faculty members, and especially by Region 8 Education Service Center (ESC).

 

With only 0.53% of the state’s student enrollment in bilingual and ESL education, Region 8 is perhaps one the regions in Texas with the lowest number of students in these programs, with a count of 3,349 for the year 2004-2005 (2004-2005 AEIS, Texas Education Agency 2006). However, as the rest of the state, Northeast Texas is experiencing a fast growth of ELLs and a greater demand for bilingual/ESL teachers, which has prompted A&M-Texarkana to pursue the creation of teacher preparation programs as well as to partner with Region 8 ESC and school districts to further the options of professional development and teacher education.

The proposal to establish the ESL education at A&M-Texarkana began in the late 1980s when the Region 8 ESC requested the addition of a graduate English as a Second Language endorsement program. A&M-Texarkana (then East Texas State University at Texarkana) received approval from the Coordinating Board (CB) for the addition of three ESL courses to the existing course inventory. This sequence comprised 12 hours of graduate courses in English. Courses were offered only sporadically and the university lacked a fully established program. In the fall of 2004, four courses in bilingual education were added as part of the plan to offer the ESL and the Bilingual supplemental certifications. However, the supplementals were never submitted for faculty approval. The project was revived 9 months ago when the university filled the position of an instructor in charge of heading the creation of the Spanish, Bilingual, and ESL programs, of expanding the future offerings in all of Region 8, and of recruiting students. The former plan to offer the supplemental programs was reconsidered. However, although the State Board of Education & Commissioner (SBEC) had endorsed them, the documents were never submitted to the CB. Additionally, although the endorsement in ESL had been approved years before, the university was not allowed to put forward the anticipated supplementals because it did not offer an initial standard certification. In view of the imminent need to offer a bilingual preparation program we had to design a plan that allowed us to start preparing teachers and students right away, and one that helped us lay a firm foundation upon which we could build the teaching degree in bilingual/ESL education that allowed us to offer additional certification. Thus, the idea for the development of the Educator Preparation Program in Bilingual Education was proposed.

The project included revising the existing bilingual and ESL courses and seeking the approval of two Spanish courses that would serve to build a specialized sequence, consisting of 18 credit hours to be completed in a year and a half. The Educator Preparation Program in Bilingual Education is directed to certified teachers or certification-seeking students interested in adding a supplemental certification in Bilingual Education in Spanish EC-4 or simply to those educators interested in teaching in bilingual or classrooms. The goals of the program are twofold: to provide teachers and student teachers with a sound knowledge of bilingual education and to prepare them to pass the required tests for additional certification in bilingual education, the TExES #102 Bilingual Education Supplemental-Spanish (EC-4) and the TOPT-Spanish. Since this is a non-degree, non-certification preparation program, courses have to be counted as hours above degree requirements. This meant that we had to create a quality program that show students that it is worthwhile adding 18 credit hours to their degree plan. The idea is to target those teachers and students whose goals include not only passing the TExES (and the TOPT) but also acquiring a sound preparation in the field. We have the difficult task of attracting the number of students required to sustain the course offerings that will make possible to build a self-sustaining program.   

Partnering with Region 8 ESC in the promotion of the program and with Mount Pleasant ISD has been the key to student enrollment. School administrators, program directors, and teachers must develop an understanding that challenging and passing the TExES to add a bilingual/ESL supplemental certification may not be a true indicator that one has the preparation and knowledge needed to successfully teach in a bilingual classroom. This understanding by some (or a few) school administrators has been crucial to a good start in the program. The first required course in the sequence, BE 474 Biliteracy for Bilingual and Dual Language Classrooms, was offered for the first time in the spring of this year with 7 students participating. The course will be offered again summer I as a response to the interest expressed by students. Eight students are registered so far, for a total of 15 students participating in the first cohort, mostly teachers affiliated to Mount Pleasant ISD. With 1,487 students enrolled in Bilingual/ESL education in the year 2004-2005 (2004-2005 AEIS, Texas Education Agency 2006), Mount Pleasant ISD serves 44% of the bilingual/ESL student population in Region 8 and hosts the largest number of bilingual/ESL educators in the region, 72.9% of the totality of bilingual/ESL teachers in the region.

Courses originate at Region 8 ESC and are offered via ITV to the A&M-Texarkana campus. The College of Arts & Sciences and Education has been a great support in course development, in the acquisition of resource material, travel related expenses and expenses associated with program promotion. Financial support for students comes mostly from Title III funds covering school fees, tuition, and textbooks. Region 8 ESC has provided participating students with laptops that may be checked out until graduation. Additionally, 4 students in the program will be participating in the 3-week international trip to Mexico City this summer with support from A&M-Texarkana and Region 8 Title III funds. Part of the program includes several hours of observation at a federal pre-school and teaching experience in ESL at the Language Institute of Universidad La Salle, the host university in Mexico.

 

What is next?

Now we are at a crucial moment in the development of the bilingual/ESL education at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. We are starting to lay a firm and necessary foundation upon which we can build the projected programming: the BSIS Generalist Degree in Bilingual and ESL Education, the Bilingual Education Supplemental (EC-4), the ESL Supplemental (EC-12), and the ACP Bilingual/ESL. We are also committed to an on-going online preparation program, as well as permanent collaboration with school districts in Region 8 offering educational assistance and support in the academic and linguistic achievement of their ELLs. This is just the beginning of a long journey and we have yet to engage ourselves in strenuous efforts to create quality programs that will successfully fill need for highly qualified teachers in Region 8.