Teaching young multilingual learners: impacts of a professional learning programme on teachers' practices and students' language and literacy skills

Using a randomised control trial, we evaluated the impact of a year-long professional learning (PL) programme for teachers designed to support their multilingual learners' language and literacy skills. The PL included evidence-based instructional practices for literacy, a semi-structured model for collaboration, and a strengths-based approach in instruction. Participants included 39 kindergarten and first-grade teachers and 106 multilingual learners (MLs) from 13 schools in two districts in the Southeastern United States. Using a mixed modelling approach, we found significantly higher literacy growth on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) for MLs whose teachers participated in the PL. The PL also had a significant impact on teachers' collaboration planning and processes with their students' English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. Effect sizes for the impact on teachers' use of evidence-based instructional strategies and collaboration frequency were large but not statistically significant. The findings from this study show positive impacts of a teacher professional learning programme on teachers' practices and young MLs' literacy growth.