Looking to improve the success of multilingual learners, Dr. Ye He, a professor in the UNC Greensboro School of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education, has been awarded a nearly $250,000 grant from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He will partner with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Office of Academic Standards’ Multilingual Learner/Title III Program Quality team on the work over the next two years.
Said Dr. He, “I am excited to have this opportunity to extend the existing partnership between the UNCG TESOL program and NCDPI to explore innovations and strategies that can inform multilingual learner-focused policies. We are also looking forward to working with many educators, researchers, and community partners across the state through research-practice partnership activities throughout the project.”
The first phase of the project will to explore and analyze quantitative student performance data from schools. That information will be used to identify schools that demonstrated success in supporting multilingual learners.
During Phase II, the research team will collect qualitative interview and focus group data from district and school leaders, educators, families, and community partners to further explore impactful strategies and innovations. Individual school reports and a final report comparing findings across schools will be prepared with implications and recommendations to inform policies and practices in regards to multilingual learners.
The final project report with specific recommendations regarding strategies to support multilingual learners will be shared with education policymakers and district leaders to inform practices and future decision making.
