02/08/2024
By Zakkiyya Witherspoon

The School of Education invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Meredith O'Leary on “A Case Study on the Effect of Co-planning to Develop Teacher Efficacy in Supporting Multilingual Learners in Literacy."

Candidate: Meredith O'Leary
Degree: Doctoral- Leadership in Schooling
Defense Date: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Remote via Zoom 
Thesis/Dissertation Title: A Case Study on the Effect of Co-planning to Develop Teacher Efficacy in Supporting Multilingual Learners in Literacy

Dissertation Committee

  • Dissertation Co-Chair: Johanna Tigert, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Education, University of Turku
    Dissertation Co-Chair, Phitsamay Uy, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Leadership in Schooling, Graduate Coordinator for Ed.D Programs, & Co-director of Center for Asian American Studies University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Committee Member James Nehring, Ed.D., Professor, Leadership in Schooling University of Massachusetts Lowell

Abstract
This study focused on a problem of practice at Mystic River School (MRS), a kindergarten through eighth grade school in an urban district in New England. Schoolwide diagnostic data showed a significant gap between multilingual learners (MLs) and their native English speaking peers in literacy. An analysis of this data, interviews with staff and caregivers, and classroom
observations, showed a primary need for training and coaching for teachers in working with MLs. To mitigate this problem a classroom teacher and an English Language Teacher (ELT) co-planned for MLs using a Looking at Student Work (With Equity in Mind) protocol. This dissertation studied the effect co-planning will have on the feelings of efficacy of the classroom teacher. This mixed methods study included quantitative data from a survey given before and after the intervention as well as pre and post interviews, observations and transcripts from the co-planning sessions and two classroom observations. Results from this study found that feelings of efficacy were higher by 20% for the classroom teacher after using the protocol and completing a post survey. Feelings of efficacy were also seen in comments through the co-planning sessions and interviews. Although the sample size was small, only one classroom teacher and one English Language Teacher, this study showed promising results for allowing teachers to co-plan in a structured way.