Abstract
Purpose. The purposes of this study were to describe: (1) support providers' perceptions of the usefulness of the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) coaching process and professional development activities to help beginning teachers incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice; (2) beginning teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of BTSA coaching process and professional development activities to help them incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice; and (3) support providers' perceptions of the usefulness of BTSA coaching process and professional development activities to help them incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their own classroom practice. Methodology. A descriptive collateral study was conducted. Thirty-seven of 50 support providers and 38 of 59 beginning teachers returned mailed surveys. Nine beginning teachers and their support providers were also interviewed. Quantitative data from the surveys were analyzed and used to determine mean scores and other descriptive statistics. Qualitative data from interviews and open-ended comments on the survey were analyzed and grouped to create frequency tables. Findings. (1) Support providers perceived that BTSA coaching and professional development activities were "somewhat useful" to help beginning teachers incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice; (2) beginning teachers perceived that BTSA coaching and professional development activities were "somewhat useful" to help them incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice; (3) support providers perceived that BTSA coaching and professional development activities were "somewhat useful" to help them incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their own classroom practice. Conclusions. Conclusions were based on findings from thirty-seven support providers and thirty-eight beginning teachers. For these teachers, BTSA coaching and professional development activities did not focus on helping them learn ways to incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice. In addition, BTSA professional development did not provide sufficient training for these support providers to coach their beginning teachers about culturally relevant reading strategies. Implications for BTSA programs. Increase efforts to recruit support providers who demonstrate effective teaching with culturally and linguistically diverse students. Provide professional development for support providers that focuses on strategies to coach beginning teachers in culturally relevant reading strategies.