Project: Effective Science Teaching for English Language Learners (ESTELL): A Pre-Service Teacher Professional Development Research Project Across Four Universities in California
Lead: Alberto J. Rodriguez
Description: This Discovery Research Project aims to explore the impact of a multi-year, multi-level model of elementary teacher education designed to prepare novice teachers to teach science to culturally and linguistically diverse students with a particular emphasis on K-6 students who are English Language Learners. The project involves collaboration between researchers and teacher educators with expertise in cultural diversity and science education from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), San Diego State University (SDSU), San Francisco State University (SFSU), and San Jose State University (SJSU), as well as the collaboration of several school districts.

ESTELL is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation for $3.1 million dollars over four years. Dr. Alberto J. Rodriguez is the Principal Investigator for the SDSU campus, and the lead in the re-design of the science methods course. This re-design of the methods course is a principal focus of the research project as we seek to investigate the impact of the ESTELL pedagogical model on the pre-service teachers' practice during student teaching and during their first year of teaching in their own classrooms. By gathering data from multiple sources (surveys, in-class observations, and field notes), and from multiple campuses, we hope to develop new understanding of how novice teachers learn to teach science to diverse learners and the individual background and context characteristics that support or impede their development. This research will also have a broader impact by providing important information to teacher education providers and school districts on the preparation of pre-service teachers to work with the increasingly diverse US K-6 student population and providing evidence of the efficacy of the approach. The ultimate goal is to increase the participation and achievement of underrepresented K-6 students in science by improving the preparation of their teachers. 

Lead: Karen Cadiero-Kaplan

Description: Both of these projects are funded by the California Dept. of Education and are geared towards developing literacy for parents who have children in San Diego City Schools. The parents are involved in both parenting classes and English classes. K-6 schools involved in the project are: Balboa and Walter J. Porter Elementary (CBS), Edison and Kimbrough Elementary (ACCESS). Community partners include: Community Based English Tutoring; State Preschool; San Diego Unified School District (see schools above); Red Cross, Mexican Consulate and Ruben.