Project Activities
The research team will carry out a mixed methods study to address the research questions. Quantitatively, the team will describe the attrition and migration of endorsed bilingual teachers across the state and the individual- and school-level characteristics associated with bilingual teacher turnover. They will also examine, via a series of regression analyses, the extent to which ELs have access to endorsed bilingual teachers and how such access contributes to their outcomes. Qualitatively, the team will explore how state requirements and initiatives, preparation activities within institutes of higher education support, and district and school conditions facilitate or hinder the recruitment and retention of endorsed bilingual teachers. They will also explore how endorsed bilingual teachers contribute to district and school capacity.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The project takes place in the state of Massachusetts.
Sample
The sample for the quantitative portion of the project includes all K-12 students in Massachusetts public schools from 2011-12 to 2024-25 with a focus on students ever identified as ELs and their teachers. The sample for the qualitative portion of the project includes 25 statewide representatives and 50 local educators involved in the preparation, recruitment, and/or retention of endorsed bilingual teachers.
With the passage of the Language Opportunity for Our Kids (LOOK) Act in 2017, Massachusetts afforded districts flexibility in offering bilingual programs to the state’s ELs and required the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to establish licensure endorsements for teachers in bilingual programs. Several districts face persistent shortages of endorsed bilingual teachers and DESE designated the bilingual endorsement as a high-needs license area. Although DESE initiatives support bilingual teacher preparation and teacher diversification, there is limited evidence related to the nature and impact of the bilingual teacher shortage or the factors enabling or constraining bilingual teacher recruitment and retention.
Research design and methods
The research team will employ a parallel mixed methods design. They will conduct descriptive analyses using Massachusetts SLDS data to examine the distribution of endorsed bilingual teachers across the state and the teacher- and school-level characteristics associated with bilingual teacher turnover. Correlational analyses will explore how EL characteristics are associated with access to bilingual teachers and the impacts of state-, district-, and school-level initiatives on access. Student fixed effects models will examine the short- and long-term impacts of exposure to bilingual teachers on a series of EL outcomes. For qualitative analyses, the team will conduct semi-structured interviews with educators at the state, university, district, and school levels to explore the factors shaping bilingual teacher recruitment and retention. Interview data will be coded thematically, and analytic memos developed to explain emergent findings.
Control condition
Teacher-focused analyses of SLDS data will compare retention of teachers with bilingual endorsements to those without. To assess how teacher-, school-, or district-level characteristics affect retention rates, the research team will make within-teacher/across-time comparisons and across-teacher comparisons. For student-focused analyses, they will restrict the sample to students ever identified as ELs and make comparisons between observations of students with more versus less exposure to bilingual endorsed teachers. As with teacher-focused analyses, they will make both within-student/across-time comparisons and across-student comparisons. A portion of the qualitative analysis will involve comparing themes between districts.
Key measures
The research team will assess retention rates by identifying a teacher’s assignment location and status in a given year relative to their location and status in the preceding year. Measures of student-level outcomes will include attendance, discipline, identification for special education, course grades, scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, advanced course enrollment, graduation status and time to graduation, dropout, and postsecondary enrollment. The team will also construct school- and district-level measures of endorsed teacher-to-EL student ratios.
Data analytic strategy
The research team will visualize EL access to endorsed bilingual teachers by mapping key measures using Geographic Information Systems software. They will rely on regression analysis, in some cases aimed at describing correlates of some outcome and in other cases aiming to more directly estimate impacts. Analyses more directly aimed at estimating impacts of teacher endorsement use student fixed effects to make within-student/across-year comparisons of student outcomes when exposed versus not exposed to teachers with bilingual endorsements. In the qualitative analysis, they will code the data thematically and develop analytic memos to identify themes across the dataset as well as an analytic matrix to compare themes across districts.
State decision making
The project will produce evidence to support state decision-making related to the resources needed to support bilingual teacher recruitment and to develop new or adjusted state initiatives that expand the bilingual teacher pipeline.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
SubAwardee(s)
Products and publications
The research team will produce peer-reviewed publications, . The project team will provide annual presentations to DESE leaders who influence decision making related to EL programs, educator preparation, and licensure. They will also create a data dashboard and co-design a series of guidance documents for districts and schools. More broadly, the team will develop research and policy briefs, peer-reviewed publications, and conference presentations.
Related projects
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
