Monolingual Teachers in Multilingual Settings: Changing Attitudes and Practices

This article describes a 6-year, districtwide staff-development project that was implemented in an attempt to change teacher attitudes and practices as they relate to English learners (ELs). The specific goals of the project were (a) to help the district’s teachers develop the knowledge base, pedagogical skills, and professional attitudes required to provide the English learners enrolled in their classrooms with effective English language development and academic subject matter instruction, and (b) to enable the teachers who still needed it to earn a Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development (CLAD) certificate. Reflective journal entries and classroom observations were both learning tools and methods of data collection. Results indicate that the project had a positive impact on teacher attitudes and practices.