Action Plan for a Successful Culturally-Diverse School Climate

Lauren Milano

EDUA 557 Human Resources

Tim Brooks

School of Education, Concordia University Irvine

11/2/2020
 Action Plan for a Successful Culturally-Diverse School Climate

In pre-Covid-19 times, when students were in school and teachers were able to

provide in person education, it was often challenging to find time to identify pervasive

obstacles to promoting an equitable school experience for all students. Pomo

Elementary is a school that enrolls Kindergarten through seventh grade, with a diverse

range of students. Pomo Elementary has the largest enrollment in Konocti Unified

School District, with close to 800 students. A breakdown of other demographics shows

that, according to the School Accountability Report Card for Pomo Elementary, 80.1%

of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, 54.9% of total enrollment represents

students that are of Hispanic or Latino origin. When looking into the subgroups, 30.6%

of Latino/Hispanic students are designated as English Language Learners (SARC,

2019). However, this percentage is hard to define, as students are redesignated as they

test out of the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC).

Students are tested on a yearly basis and can reach a performance level of four before

they are no longer considered for the English Language Development (ELD) program.

Moving out of the ELD program means that an even higher percentage of students

come from solely Spanish-speaking families but are no longer identified as ELL

students.

It is imperative to consider stakeholders when identifying potential inequity areas

as a school administrator. Students, teachers associated with ELL students, other

administrators, parents, and community partners are all stakeholders that should be

included when initiating this change. All of these stakeholders contribute to ELL

students’ overall success and should be consulted in the process. Most importantly, ELL
students should be included in the process as a primary consideration. After all,

students have to develop an intrinsic motivation to be successful. Additionally,

incorporating the family and related community in this process has proven to be

beneficial to the overall success of the student. Research also supports that fostering

family and community partnerships in education is beneficial to a student’s overall

success. According to the U. S Department of Education (2009), “the degree of parent

and community interest in high-quality education is the critical factor in the impact of the

school environment on the achievement and educational aspirations of students.”

Parental support can be a critical factor in holding students accountable for their

academic success.

There can be various obstacles for any 21st-century learner, with the increasing

speed at which information is disseminated and the varying demands of analyzing it

through critical thinking. More now than ever before, is it necessary for students to have

the required tools at their disposal to use in their academic pursuits. At Pomo

Elementary, with the increasing population of English learners, it is imperative to assist

this subgroup of students in obtaining the same tools as their English speaking peers.

With the added stressor of distance learning, teachers and students face many

obstacles in providing and receiving a quality educational experience. Hussain (2016)

addresses this challenge in his study; teachers face the challenge of students lacking

prior knowledge in English, lack of proper methodology and strategies to teach this

group of students. Likewise, students face the daily workload challenges, lacking in prior

knowledge and lack of proper motivation and attitude towards learning English.

Moreover, immigrant children are more likely to grow up in poverty, further exacerbated
by language barriers, documentation status, and discrimination (Dearing et al., 2016).

These challenges have led to systemic frustration from all parties involved in the

student’s learning when considered together.

Moreover, it is imperative to meet ELL students’ growing needs as early on in

their academic career as possible. An example of this necessity lies in the fact that

students who do not develop reading fluency and comprehension skills will lack the

skills needed to succeed in their education. Many students from minority groups do not

reach grade-level benchmarks. They will experience the effects of this later on their

educational path, as they will likely have trouble learning and comprehending more

complex texts (Lange, 2019). This fact should seemingly go without saying; however,

there is no solid strategy to support ELL students through a distance learning platform

at Pomo Elementary. Considering ELL students falling further behind than students who

currently have access to the appropriate technology and materials, it is essential to

formulate new strategies to offer the most effective educational experience possible.

Currently, the majority of support comes solely from the school. However, if a stronger

community partnership was fostered with families, and more support was provided in

smaller groups as we enter into students returning to school, ELL students would

experience more academic success.

The need to examine ELL students’ academic success during distance learning

came from several anecdotal reports from colleagues at Pomo Elementary. Specifically,

teachers could see the negative impact of the distance learning model on their ELL

students’ ability to access the material and their inability to assist them in any

meaningful way. It then became clear that the focus of action should be in this area. As
such, I interviewed five stakeholders through the use of the digital interview and

recorded their responses. The stakeholders represented parents, classified staff,

teachers, and an ELL student. The tables below showcase the answers from

participants. For each set of questions, I also followed up with the participant to make

sure that I had received the intended response and elaborate on the open-ended

question included in the digital form. The figures below show the percentage of each

answer as it was recorded.

The first question in my interview asked participants to rate whether or not their

ELL students were turning in work consistently, and the choices included “Many

students,” “Few Students,” or “No Students.” In reviewing responses, most participants

recorded that some of their identified ELL students were turning in work; however, 40%

reported that none were doing so. This shows a clear lack of access to ELL students

and a need for immediate attention.

The second question that interviewees were asked was whether they felt that

ELL students were supported adequately through distance learning. The results

indicated that 80% of participants thought students were not supported, while 20% said

that ELL students were somewhat supported. In the post-interview discussion, when

participants were asked to expand on answers, many participants noted that the

communication between the student, family, and teacher was minimal. Therefore,

students were falling behind.

In the third question, I provided a list to participants of possible challenges that

made distance learning more difficult for ELL students. Most participants selected that
synchronous lessons need to be translated to promote sufficient understanding during

class time. Participants also recorded that communication with families has been a

significant issue. When speaking with participants, most indicated that because we have

a limited number of bilingual staff working at Pomo, consistent communication with

families has been challenging. Additionally, many families of ELL students report

technical issues. Specifically, unreliable internet has proven to be difficult to log on and

stay on for the synchronous sessions.

Finally, participants were asked what they believed could significantly change to

promote a positive learning environment for ELL students during distance learning. The

answers varied minimally, and most participants agreed that this subgroup of students

needs additional support in the form of an English Language Development class. In this

context, they can either work with a specialized teacher on classwork for a current

general education class or have the opportunity to work on English Development.

Based on the data received from stakeholders, the focus of the next steps in

addressing the current inequitable practices is centered around overcoming language

barriers for synchronous lessons, providing scaffolded lesson plans in English

Language Development cohorts, and providing parent engagement training to assist

families in taking a more active role in their student’s learning. Firstly, as Pomo

Elementary enters phase 2 of distance learning in the next couple of months, ELL

students will be grouped into small cohorts of less than 14 students who will receive

extra support in an English Language Development class. Research supports that

offering students this additional support promotes reading and math scores and overall

academic achievement, especially for students who attended high-poverty schools,

given in synchronous general education classes, using visual aids, maps, and graphic

organizers to support their comprehension of the material. According to Weisman and

Hansen (2007), “the use of graphic organizers Graphic organizers, such as Venn

diagrams, series of events chains, compare and contrast matrices, and T-charts help

students construct meaning from text and understand the relationships between ideas.”

Implementing visuals for ELL students at Pomo Elementary can be tremendously

helpful in filling in some of the background knowledge and relationships between ideas

and words that other native English speaking students may already possess.

Additionally, the data indicated that teachers acknowledged the need for students

to access material taught in synchronous sessions. Utilizing current resources such as a

translator tool will be essential in accomplishing this task. Therefore, the next step is to

offer technology training for parents and students to implement translating tools for

Google Meets. This will allow the students and Spanish-speaking parents to

comprehend better what is being asked of the student. When the language in which

content is delivered is not understood, academic success is jeopardized (Rillero et al.,

2017). While additional work will have to continue to be done in breaking down

language barriers, this offers a first step to bridging the existing gap. We know that

language is a fundamental tool of learning. Moreover, because parents will be asked to

participate in training that assists their students in implementing these strategies, a

more solidified partnership will be built. The students will likely be held more

accountable. Currently, Pomo Elementary uses Google Meet as its primary meeting
space for synchronous sessions. This platform has the option to turn on a translator

tool, increasing access for both students and parents.

The last part of the action plan encompasses setting a timeframe for which the

data can be reanalyzed to assess the positive impact. Implementation of the proposed

method should occur when students can be on-campus part-time and then reassessed

later in the school year. The digital form will be sent out to the same participants to

measure accuracy to see if their feedback changes, given the new supports in place for

ELL students. It is vital to building a practice of including stakeholders in evolving to

ensure that the school continues to meet ELL students’ needs. As such, the action plan

should involve sending out surveys periodically to gain feedback. These should be sent

out to ELL families on a biannual basis, so that parents have an avenue to provide

feedback on a consistent basis. In doing so, Pomo Elementary will continue to bridge

the existing gap between school and community and more effectively serve the

underserved students.
 References

Dearing, E., Walsh, M. E., Sibley, E., Lee, S. J. T., Foley, C., & Raczek, A. E. (2016).
Can Community and School-Based Supports Improve the Achievement of
First-Generation Immigrant Children Attending High-Poverty Schools? ​Child
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https://doi-org.cui.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/cdev.12507

Hussain, A. L. (2016). Harnessing the barriers that impact on students' English

Lange, A. A. (2019). Technology, instructional methods, and the systemic messiness of

Rillero, P., Koerner, M., Jimenez-Silva, M., Merritt, J., & Farr, W. J. (2017). Developing
Teacher Competencies for Problem-Based Learning Pedagogy and for
Supporting Learning in Language-Minority Students. ​Interdisciplinary Journal of
Problem-Based Learning,​ ​11(​ 2), 1–11.
https://doi-org.cui.idm.oclc.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1675

U.S. Department of Education (2009, November 6). ​Sustainability Series:​ In ​Engaging

Weisman, E. M., & Hansen, L. E. (2007). Strategies for teaching social studies to
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