Measuring Instructional Competence for Teaching English Language Learners

Abstract

English language learners represent a fast-growing population in United States schools. However, teachers are often underprepared to effectively educate English language learners through traditional teacher preparation programs, leading some to complete licensure preparation programs for ENL endorsements. To better understand educators’ preparedness for teaching ELs and to assess the effectiveness of a licensure preparation program, we developed a measure of Instructional Competence for Teaching English language learners. Using Rasch analysis, we confirmed the validity of the measure including the subscales of Understanding and Practices. This measure can be used by other teacher education programs to assess preparedness for teaching ELs, as a supplement to other measures of knowledge and teacher sense of efficacy.