Research Update

So far this process has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. I am so excited to learn more about the evaluation process for ELL students in determining the need for special education services. Other days I am beyond stressed on the amount of support you need from others to complete your research. When you are creating your proposal for you research, it all looks so simple on paper. Once real life is factored in and having to interact with other people, it really slows your process down. I am starting to understand why researchers usually are studying one topic for multiple years.

I am starting to collect data from students, since I have about one-fourth of my consent/assent forms turned in, and next week I will get the rest of the forms signed at parent teacher conference. I am starting to organize data I already have and am working to organize data into spread sheets as I receive them. I hope this makes it easier to look at when I begin analyzing data. As I organize my data, I am starting to see some patterns, however am waiting for my data to grow before analyzing further. I am lucky that most parents have been very willing to meet and talk about signing consent forms.

From the interactions I have had with parents, they are very willing to cooperate and want to help support the education of all students. They felt comfortable talking about how they aren’t sure if their child’s native language is the factor for poor performance in school. A lot of the parents wanted to talk about what they can do at home to help support their needs. I am fortunate, so far, that I will be able to collect data on student’s home life and check how some factors contribute to academic success.

I really am enjoying the articles I have read so far to help support my research. I found that this topic impacts me more than I thought it did. At the current school I teach at, there are many students that are ELL’s and who are constantly being referred to special education by their teachers and by our Culturally Linguistically Diverse CLD teacher. Almost every day I am thinking about an article I have read in relation to a conversation or experience I am having with a teacher.

From articles I have read, I am seeing many connections from other research that has been done and how it connects to my experiences. For example, I just read an article explaining how many ELL students who learned Spanish, but then forgot how to speak Spanish when learning English; usually have slower academic progress than students who learn to speak Spanish more fluently alongside English. I really can see how that connects to the group of 10 ELL students I know personally. Of course, I am trying to make sure I don’t become biased on solely my own personal experiences.

The most I research this topic, the more interested I become. I do hope that this process continues to go smoothly, but I am nervous on how the data will come together to really support the need for change in assessing students for special education services. I am continuing to keep the needs of the students as a priority, which really keeps me focused on my research to improve their educational experience.