Abstract
Purpose. The purposes of this study were to: (1) describe beginning teachers' perceptions about the usefulness of the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) coaching process and professional development activities to help them incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice; and (2) describe support providers' perceptions about the usefulness of the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment coaching process and professional development activities to help beginning teachers incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice. Methodology. A descriptive collateral study was conducted. Thirty-eight of fifty-nine BTSA beginning teachers and thirty-seven of fifty support providers returned a mailed survey. Nine beginning teachers and nine support providers were 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 used to create frequency tables. Findings. BTSA coaching activities were "somewhat useful" to help beginning teachers incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice. These activities included reflection on classroom practice, observation of other teachers and lesson planning with the support provider. Beginning teachers and support providers perceived their Bilingual or Cross-Cultural Academic and Language Development coursework as "useful" to help them incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies in their classroom practice. Conclusions. Current BTSA coaching and professional development activities do not focus specifically on helping beginning teachers and their support providers learn about ways to incorporate culturally relevant reading strategies into their classroom practice. Current BTSA professional development activities do not provide sufficient training to support providers focused on helping them coach their beginning teachers about culturally relevant reading strategies. Recommendations. Future research studies should assess whether these findings hold true when replicated with a larger sample of beginning teachers and support providers who: (1) represent culturally diverse school districts within other BTSA projects in California and (2) are ethnically diverse to determine if the findings are similar to those in this study. Implications. Maintain Bilingual or Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development coursework as a distinct part of the teacher credentialing process.