Supporting English Learners throughTechnology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning
Resources for English Learners
Volume I: Final ReportSupporting English Learners throughTechnology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning
Resources for English Learners
Volume I: Final Report

Prepared for:
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development
Policy and Program Studies Service

Prepared by:
Annette M. Zehler
Atsushi Miyaoka
Brad Chaney
Valerie Orellana
WestatPhilip Vahey
Daniela Torre Gibney
Kaily YeeSRI Education
Yesim Yilmazel-Sahin
OneWorld Linguistic Consulting, LLC
2019

This report was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No. ED-PEP-11-O-0088/TO27
with Westat. Erica Lee, Ivan Metzger, Julie Warner, and Lena Shi served as contracting officer’s
representatives over the course of the project. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent
the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S.
Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in thispublication is intended or should be inferred. For the reader’s convenience, this publication contains
information about and from outside organizations, including hyperlinks and URLs. Inclusion of suchinformation does not constitute an endorsement by the Department.
U.S. Department of Education
Betsy DeVos
Secretary
Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development
James Blew
Assistant Secretary
Policy and Program Studies Service
Gregory Fortelny
Director
May 2019
This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. Whilepermission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of
Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, Policy and Program Studies Service,
Supporting English learners through technology: What districts and teachers say about digital learning
resources for English learners. Volume I: Final Report. National Study of English Learners and Digital
Learning Resources, Washington, D.C., 2019.
This report is available on the Department’s website at:
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html.
Availability of Alternate Formats
Requests for documents in alternate formats such as Braille or large print should be submitted to theAlternate Format Center by calling 202-260-0852 or by contacting the 504 coordinator via email at
om_eeos@ed.gov.
Notice to Limited English Proficient Persons
If you have difficulty understanding English you may request language assistance services for
Department information that is available to the public. These language assistance services are available
free of charge. If you need more information about interpretation or translation services, please call 1800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-437-0833), or email us at:
Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov. Or write to: U.S. Department of Education, Information Resource
Center, LBJ Education Building, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20202.
Content Contact:
Erica Lee
Phone: 202-260-1463
Email: erica.lee@ed.gov

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Contents
Volume I
List of Exhibits................................................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... vii
Executive Summary........................................................................................................................... ix
Key Findings ....................................................................................................................................ix
Study Purpose and Methods .......................................................................................................... x
Methodology and Study Limitations .............................................................................................. x
Findings .........................................................................................................................................xii
Conclusions................................................................................................................................... xvi
Chapter I. Introduction .......................................................................................................................1
Study Purpose and Methods .......................................................................................................... 1
Methodology .................................................................................................................................. 2
Analysis and Reporting of Findings ................................................................................................ 5
DLR Framework and Definitions ..................................................................................................... 6
Study Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 7
Chapter II. Identification of DLRs and DLRS Provided for Instructing EL Students .................................. 9
Sources for Identifying DLRs......................................................................................................... 10
Criteria in Selecting DLRs .............................................................................................................. 15
Types of DLRs Provided for Instruction ........................................................................................ 22
Chapter III. Teachers’ Use of DLRs in Instructing EL Students ............................................................. 27
Use of DLRs ................................................................................................................................... 27
Availability and Use of Digital Academic Content, Productivity, and Communication Tools ...... 32
Measures Used to Assess the Effectiveness of DLRs in Instructing EL Students.......................... 37
Chapter IV. Supports for, and Barriers to, DLR Use in Instructing EL Students ..................................... 41
Professional Development and Other Supports for Use of DLRs ................................................. 41
Barriers to DLR Use....................................................................................................................... 55
Chapter V. Districts’ and Teachers’ Recommendations to Improve the Usefulness of DLRs for
Instructing EL Students ................................................................................................. 61
Recommendations Related to DLR Content................................................................................. 61
Recommendations Related to DLR Support Features .................................................................. 63
Recommendations Related to Implementation ........................................................................... 64
Recommendations Related to Professional Development and Training ..................................... 65
Additional Areas of Support That Teachers Request ................................................................... 67
Chapter VI. Conclusions.................................................................................................................... 69
References....................................................................................................................................... 71
iii

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibits
Exhibit 1.

U.S. public school districts that enrolled EL students: number of districts, percentage ofdistricts, number of EL students, and total number of students enrolled, in three
categories of EL student representation, 2013–14.................................................................. 2

Exhibit 2.

Categories and types of DLRs discussed in this report ............................................................ 7

Exhibit 3.

Percentage of districts reporting various approaches to using DLRs ...................................... 9

Exhibit 4.

Sources that districts reported using to identify most or some DLRs for instructing EL
students specifically and general education students ........................................................... 11

Exhibit 5.

Sources that districts reported using to identify some or most DLRs for instructing
EL students, in high-EL and low-EL districts ........................................................................... 12

Exhibit 6.

Sources that teachers reported using sometimes or often to identify DLRs for
instructing EL students ........................................................................................................... 14

Exhibit 7.

Criteria that districts reported were very important in selecting DLRs ................................. 16

Exhibit 8.

Support features that districts reported were very important in selecting DLRs for
instructing EL students ........................................................................................................... 17

Exhibit 9.

Criteria that teachers reported were very important in selecting DLRs for instructing EL
students.................................................................................................................................. 19

Exhibit 10. Support features that teachers reported were very important in selecting DLRs for
instructing EL students ........................................................................................................... 21
Exhibit 11. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided various categories of DLRs for EL
students specifically and for general education students ..................................................... 23
Exhibit 12. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided various types of DLRs, for EL
students specifically and for general education students ..................................................... 25
Exhibit 13. Teachers’ reported frequency of DLR use in instructing EL students .................................... 28
Exhibit 14. Percentage of teachers reporting at least some use of DLRs, by type of student forwhom the DLR was designed ................................................................................................. 29
Exhibit 15. Percentage of teachers reporting that their EL students used DLRs weekly or daily, by
type of teacher and by type of students for whom the DLRs were designed ....................... 31
Exhibit 16. Percentage of teachers reporting that various categories of DLRs were available tothem ....................................................................................................................................... 32
Exhibit 17. Percentage of teachers reporting that they used various DLRs in instructing EL students,
by frequency of use................................................................................................................ 34iv

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 18. Percentage of teachers reporting various activity contexts in which their EL students
used DLRs often ..................................................................................................................... 36
Exhibit 19. Percentage of districts reporting various indicators that they used to track theeffectiveness of DLRs for EL students .................................................................................... 37
Exhibit 20. Percentage of teachers reporting various indicators that they used to judge theeffectiveness of DLRs in supporting EL students ................................................................... 39
Exhibit 21. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided various types of professional
development (PD) and other supports related to DLR use and the persons providing
professional development, for instructing EL students specifically and for instructing
general education students ................................................................................................... 43
Exhibit 22. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided professional development (PD)related to DLR use in instructing EL students specifically, and the persons providing theprofessional development, in high-EL and low-EL districts ................................................... 44
Exhibit 23. Percentage of teachers reporting the hours of formal professional development on
DLRs that they received over a three-year period from 2014–15 to 2016–17 ...................... 45
Exhibit 24. Percentage of teachers reporting the number of hours of formal professional
development on DLRs that they received over a three-year period from 2014–15 to
2016–17, by type of teacher .................................................................................................. 46
Exhibit 25. Percentage of teachers reporting that they received various types of formal
professional development (PD) on DLR use in general and on DLR use specific to EL
students over a three-year period from 2014–15 to 2016–17 .............................................. 48
Exhibit 26. Percentage of teachers reporting that they viewed various types of formal professional
development they received as extremely helpful or moderately helpful to their use of
DLRs with EL students ............................................................................................................ 50
Exhibit 27. Percentage of teachers reporting that they received various types of informal
professional development over a three-year period from 2014–15 to 2016–17.................. 52
Exhibit 28. Percentage of teachers reporting that they viewed various types of informal
professional development they received as extremely helpful or moderately helpful totheir use of DLRS with EL students ........................................................................................ 54
Exhibit 29. Percentage of districts reporting various barriers to DLR use in instructing EL students,
to a large extent or to some extent ....................................................................................... 56
Exhibit 30. Percentage of teachers reporting various barriers to DLR use in instructing EL students,
to a large extent or to some extent ....................................................................................... 58
Exhibit 31. Percentage of teachers reporting areas in which they would appreciate more support
related to DLR use with EL students ...................................................................................... 67v

This page intentionally left blank.

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the many individuals who contributed to the study and the report. We are grateful tothe staff of the school districts and schools who responded to our surveys and welcomed us for our casestudy visits. Their responses and insights were very much appreciated. We would like to thank the
U.S. Department of Education for their guidance and support, particularly Erica Lee, Stephanie Stullich,
Victoria Hammer, Ivan Metzger, Lena Shi, and Julie Warner of the Policy and Program Studies Service.
We thank the staff members at Westat and SRI Education who contributed to the study. At Westat,
Patty Troppe and Rob Olsen provided guidance at key points. Debbie Alexander, Laura Collins,
Mihiri Silva, Sylvia Segovia played important roles in data collection; Adrienne von Glatz, in finalizing thereport; and several other staff members contributed to these tasks along the way. At SRI, Bowyee Gong
was instrumental throughout the study, and Brenda Waller provided much needed support. We thank
Savitha Moorthy for her insights on and conceptualization of the case studies. We thank Michael Jay andhis team at Educational Systemics, Inc. for bringing the educational technology developers’ perspective
into the study. We would also like to thank the members of our technical working group and expert
panel for their thoughtful guidance. Our technical working group included Rebecca Black, Chris Hansen,
Maria Santos, Rebecca Silverman, and Binbin Zheng. Our expert panel members were Robert Dillon,
David Dockterman, Chris Liang-Vergara, Elizabeth Low, Maribeth Luftglass, Angela Rood, Polly Stansell,
Jennifer Trujillo, and Binbin Zheng.

vii

This page intentionally left blank.

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Executive Summary
English learners (ELs) are one of the fastest growing student demographics in the United States and are
a diverse group, representing over 400 different language backgrounds. In the 2015–16 school year,
there were 4.8 million EL students in grades K–12 in U.S. public schools, accounting for 10 percent of allenrolled students (U.S. Department of Education 2018). Over school years 2009–10 to 2014–15, 32
states saw increases in their EL student enrollments, and for five of those states, the increases were over
40 percent (U.S. Department of Education 2017a). Also, over the past decades, teachers have gained
increased access to digital technologies for instruction (U.S. Department of Education 2017b). For
example, as of 2009, almost every public school (98 percent) had internet access and almost all teachers(97 percent) had one or more computers in their classrooms (Gray, Thomas, and Lewis 2010a, 2010b).
Many teachers report using Digital Learning Resources (DLRs) to enhance and differentiate theirstudents’ language and content area instruction.
To date, there have been no national data to inform the field on whether and how teachers are using
digital technologies to instruct EL students. This report describes data collected in school year 2016–17
to learn about the use of DLRs in instructing EL students through a nationally representative survey of
districts that enrolled EL students and a teacher survey that included mainstream teachers of EL
students and EL specialists. The teacher sample was not nationally representative and those results
should be interpreted with caution. The study included six case studies to provide illustrative vignettes
and practitioner comments. In addition to this report, the study developed two toolkits, one to inform
educators on the range of DLRs and considerations in using DLRs for EL students, and one to inform
educational technology developers about recommendations for improving DLRs for instructing EL
students.

Key Findings•

Most teachers surveyed reported that they identified specific DLRs for instructing EL students
based on the recommendations of fellow teachers and district or school administrators.

•

Teachers were more likely to report weekly or daily use of general education DLRs than of
DLRs designed primarily for EL students (85 percent vs. 65 percent).

•

About two-thirds of teachers surveyed reported using digital references and resources,
language tutorials or practice tools, and academic tutorials or practice tools weekly or daily in
instructing their EL students.

•

The majority of teachers reported that EL students often used DLRs when working
independently (61 percent) or as part of a whole class activity (60 percent); few teachersreported assigning EL students to use DLRs outside of class.

•Districts with high-EL student representation were more likely than districts with low-EL
student representation to report providing professional development workshops, coaching,and in-class assistance related to DLR use in instructing EL students.

•

Across all districts, EL specialists reported fewer hours of professional development in DLR use
than did mainstream teachers.

ixSupporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners•

Frequently reported barriers to using DLRs with EL students were students’ lack of DLR accessat home, and teachers’ needs for EL and technology expertise and for time to learn and use
DLRs.

•

Educators suggested that DLRs could improve by engaging students in academic content whilebuilding language and literacy skills; embedding visual, auditory, and other support features;providing multiple languages; and providing grade-level content and age-appropriate designfor older beginner-level EL students.

Study Purpose and Methods
The study describes districts’ and teachers’ reported use of DLRs for instructing EL students in grades
K–12 to inform the field on current practice and to provide findings that may guide future research,
practice, or policy to improve EL students’ academic achievement and gains in language proficiency.
The study addressed the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

How do districts and teachers identify DLRs for instructing EL students?
What types of DLRs do teachers use and how do they use DLRs in instructing EL students?
What are supports for and barriers to DLR use in instructing EL students?
How can educators and technology developers improve the usefulness of DLRs in instructionof EL students?

Methodology and Study Limitations
The study data collection consisted of three main components:
1.

Survey of district administrators in a nationally representative sample of public school
districts that enrolled EL students. Survey instructions were that the survey should becompleted by the administrator(s) most knowledgeable about EL student instruction, typicallythe district coordinator for EL student instruction. Because the number of EL students in a
district may influence levels of access to EL resources and the availability of EL-instructional
expertise, we stratified the sample of 999 districts by three categories:•

High-EL districts enrolled more than 1,000 EL students and EL students accounted for
10 percent or more of all students.

•

Moderate-EL districts enrolled between 101 and 1,000 EL students, or enrolled more than
1,000 EL students and EL students were less than 10 percent of all students.

•

Low-EL districts enrolled 100 or fewer EL students.

Readers should note that high-EL districts generally tend to be much larger in size than low-EL
districts, which could also explain differences that are found between these two groups.
2.

Survey of teachers of EL students, including mainstream teachers and EL specialists, in schools
within the sampled districts. Roughly half of the responding teachers were randomly sampled.
However, many schools did not provide rosters of teachers instructing EL students; at theseschools, the principals were asked to select teachers of EL students to take the survey.
Comparisons between the two teacher samples found that those selected by principals weremoderately more likely to be EL specialists than in the random sample. Other differences inxSupporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

teacher characteristics and responses between the two teacher samples were minor. This
report combines both teacher samples when reporting the survey findings; thus, the results ofthe teacher survey are not nationally representative and should be interpreted with caution.
3.

Case studies of six districts and 12 schools. The case studies provided more in-depth,
qualitative data on how districts and schools use DLRs for instructing EL students. The findings
from the six case studies provided illustrative vignettes and practitioner comments; however,these data are not nationally representative and cannot generalize to other education settings.

The study defined DLRs as applications (apps), software, programs, or websites that are designed toengage students in learning activities and support students’ learning goals. This definition does notinclude technology hardware; it excludes the computers, laptops, interactive whiteboards, and otherdevices needed to use the DLRs. Several DLR types were identified within each of three main categories:
1.

Digital Academic Content Tools are designed to offer academic content resources or engage
students in activities to learn academic content or skills including, but not limited to, language
and literacy content or skills. Examples are a tutorial on a new math skill, a physics or mathsimulation, or visual resources such as a short video that describes a geographic formation.

2.

Digital Productivity Tools are designed to offer resources to help students to plan, document,
organize, and analyze content. These tools do not contain academic content; examples include
a slide presentation tool, a timeline tool, or a concept-mapping tool.

3.

Digital Communication Tools are designed to offer resources students can use tocommunicate, collaborate, network, or share information. These tools do not containacademic content; examples include document-sharing tools to support joint work, or ajournal or blog tool.

Study Limitations
As noted above, the teacher sample included both randomly selected teachers and teachers selected byprincipals. The response rate for teachers selected randomly from rosters was 56 percent. The principalselected teachers comprised 28 percent (weighted) of the total teacher respondents. While theprincipal-selected teachers responded similarly to the randomly selected teachers, findings reported forteachers are not nationally representative and the results should be interpreted with caution. There
were six case study sites purposively selected to provide examples of districts with high, moderate, andlow levels of EL students in the district; these are not nationally representative and the case study datacannot be generalized to the nation as a whole.

xiSupporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Findings
Identification of DLRs and DLRs Provided for Instructing EL Students
Most districts reported using teacher requests as a source for identifying DLRs for
EL students.
Classroom teachers (81 percent) and EL specialists (78 percent) were sources 1 that most districts
reported using to identify some or most DLRs for EL students specifically. Other sources that the
majority of districts reported using to identify DLRs for EL students were school administrators (69percent), district administrators (68 percent), and a committee that meets to review and select DLRs
(60 percent). Similarly, most districts (92 percent) reported that they used classroom teachers as asource for identifying DLRs for students in general education classes, and most also reported using
school administrators (83 percent), and district administrators (78 percent) as sources. Other sourcesthat the majority of districts reported using to identify DLRs for general education students were acommittee that meets to review and select DLRs (73 percent) and EL specialists (63 percent).

High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to report consideringcertain support features, such as visual and auditory supports, as very importantwhen selecting DLRs for use with EL students.
Examples of embedded support features include visual images that may help a student to understandnew vocabulary and auditory features such as text-to-speech supports that let a student hear the text
they are reading. For both high-EL and low-EL districts, visual supports were the most commonly
indicated type of support feature; however, almost all (93 percent) high-EL districts versus about threequarters (74 percent) of low-EL districts reported that they considered visual supports as very importantin selecting DLRs for EL students. Other reported support features that showed differences between
high-EL and low-EL districts included providing various levels of text difficulty for the same content,
including a range of features specifically designed to support EL students, providing auditory supports;
and including materials in the languages of the districts’ EL students.
In case study districts, administrators commonly noted that they were more likely to agree to a DLR
purchase when a number of teachers were already using the DLR, when teachers thought that the DLR
was effective in improving students’ learning outcomes, or when teachers reported that the DLR was
successful in engaging students.

Most teachers surveyed reported that they identified specific DLRs for instructing
EL students based on the recommendations of fellow teachers and district or
school administrators.
A majority of teachers reported using the following sources: recommendations of fellow teachers(91 percent); district or school administrators (86 percent); professional development sessions on DLRs
1 Districts responded to an item that listed the five sources. They responded to indicate whether they used each source toidentify none, some or most DLRs.

xii

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

provided by the district (74 percent); online searches (73 percent); technology coaches or specialists(69 percent); and the school’s EL specialist (65 percent).

Teachers’ Use of DLRs in Instructing EL Students
Eighty-five percent of teachers surveyed reported using DLRs in instructing their
EL students.
Of the teachers using DLRs, 62 percent reported using at least one type of DLR daily and an additional
27 percent reported using at least one type of DLR weekly. There were no significant differences in DLR
use between mainstream teachers and EL specialists, between teachers in high-EL versus low-EL
districts, or based on teachers’ years of experience.

Teachers were more likely to report weekly or daily use of general education DLRs
than of DLRs designed primarily for EL students (85 percent vs. 65 percent).
This difference also was statistically significant for mainstream teachers (88 percent vs. 69 percent) but
not for EL specialists.
In case study interviews, some mainstream teachers explained they often used general education DLRs
rather than specialized DLRs designed specifically for EL students so as not to single out EL students byusing a different DLR for them. These teachers also believed that the general education DLRs hadfeatures that were sufficient to meet the needs of the EL students. For example, they noted that in some
DLRs students could click on a word to get the definition in simpler English or to obtain a translation of
the word in their home language.
Mainstream teachers were more likely than EL specialists to report that their EL students used general
education DLRs on a weekly or daily basis (88 percent vs. 67 percent). Similarly, considering DLRs
designed primarily for EL students, mainstream teachers were more likely than EL specialists to report
weekly or daily use (69 percent vs. 53 percent).

About two-thirds of teachers surveyed reported using digital references andresources, language tutorials or practice tools, presentation tools, and academic
tutorials or practice tools weekly or daily in instructing their EL students.
Depending on the tool, teachers’ reported use ranged from 13 percent for video conferencing to82 percent for use of reference and resources DLRs. Teachers most often reported that they usedreferences and resources (82 percent), language tutorials or practice tools (81 percent), presentation
tools (77 percent), and academic tutorials or practice tools (75 percent). Teachers’ use of DLRs
depended not only on teachers’ choices but also on DLR availability; for example, the least used tool
reported (video conferencing) was also the least available (43 percent of districts reported that they did
not provide DLRs for video conferencing).
The majority of case study teachers of EL students reported that they frequently used digital references
and resources tools such as visual images (photo and video) together with presentation tools, such as
slide-show programs, to support all students, and that they felt this support was especially beneficial forxiiiSupporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

their EL students. In the survey findings, close to half of teachers in both groups reported use ofpresentation tools.

The majority of teachers reported that EL students often used DLRs when working
independently (61 percent) or as part of a whole class activity (60 percent); few
teachers reported assigning EL students to use DLRs outside of class.
In case study interviews, several mainstream teachers stated that both their EL and English-proficient
students frequently worked independently at their own pace on the same DLR. However, teachers in
two districts commented that EL students sometimes worked on different DLRs while English-proficient
students in the class worked on another activity. Mainstream teachers most frequently reported using
DLRs in whole class activities to introduce content. For example, they projected slide presentations,images, websites, or videos for the whole class. They also used productivity DLRs with the class to assesslearning, such as through apps that can create and administer interactive quizzes to students.
Mainstream teachers were more likely than EL specialists to report that students often worked with
DLRs as part of whole-class activities (63 percent vs. 31 percent), in pairs or groups of EL students andEnglish speakers (50 percent vs. 23 percent), and in work with DLRs in pairs or groups of EL students(45 percent vs. 19 percent).
Sixteen percent of teachers surveyed reported that EL students often were assigned to use a DLR tocontinue learning outside of class, and 10 percent of teachers reported that EL students often wereassigned to work with parents or other family members at home using a DLR. Several teachers in thecase study districts noted that they generally did not assign DLR use for students outside of theclassroom given their concern that some students might not have access to computers, DLRs, or internet
capacity at home.

Supports for and Barriers to DLR Use
Districts were less likely to report providing professional development and othersupports for DLR use for instructing EL students specifically as compared withprofessional development and supports for instructing general education students
For example, 38 percent of districts reported providing workshops on the integration of DLRs in
instruction of EL students specifically versus 75 percent of districts providing such workshops for
instruction of students in general education classes. Also, 32 percent of districts reported providing
direct coaching support to teachers to assist them in integrating DLR use in instructing EL students
specifically compared with 58 percent of districts reporting such coaching provided for instructing
general education students. There were similar differences in other types of support for DLR use. While
45 percent reported providing access to online sources of professional development focused on DLR use
with EL students specifically, 72 percent reported providing such access for teachers instructing general
education students.

xivSupporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to report providing
professional development workshops, coaching, and in-class assistance related to
DLR use in instructing EL students.
There were large differences between the two district groups for four types of professional
development. High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to report providing workshops on
features of a specific DLR (72 percent vs. 36 percent), workshops on integration of DLRs in instruction(60 percent vs. 30 percent), direct coaching support to integrate DLR use (54 percent vs. 24 percent),
and one-on-one in-classroom assistance on how to use a specific DLR (50 percent vs. 29 percent).

Across all districts, EL specialists reported fewer hours of professional
development in DLR use than did mainstream teachers.
EL specialists (72 percent) were more likely than mainstream teachers (47 percent) to report receiving
one to 10 hours of professional development related to DLRs over school years 2014–15 to 2016–17.
The two subgroups were almost equally likely to report receiving no hours of professional development
related to DLRs (13 percent and 12 percent, respectively). Combining these findings, EL specialists(84 percent) compared with mainstream teachers (60 percent) were more likely to report either 10 or
fewer hours of professional development on DLRs over the three-year period. In contrast, at the upper
range of hours reported, mainstream teachers (31 percent) were more likely than EL specialists(7 percent) to report receiving more than 25 hours of professional development.
Some case study teachers of EL students described the professional development they typically received
as focused on how to use specific features or functions of a DLR rather than how to incorporate DLRs
into their instruction of EL students. For example, the teachers noted that the professional development
focused on specifics such as how to set up student accounts, how students should log in, or how
students could access audio features to listen to an unfamiliar word.

Seventy-eight percent of teachers reported that students’ lack of internet accessat home to DLRs was a barrier to their use of DLRs for instructing EL students.
About half of these teachers (41 percent of all teachers) reported that students’ lack of internet accessat home to DLRs was a barrier to a large extent. A similar percentage of teachers also reported thatstudents lacked home access in ways other than a lack of internet capacity (79 percent) (e.g., lack ofcomputers in the home), with 37 percent indicating this was a barrier to a large extent. Several casestudy teachers reported that lack of DLR access at home prompted them to not assign homework thatwould require students to use DLRs at home.
Most teachers surveyed reported that time required to learn to use DLRs (78 percent) and to set up or
trouble-shoot DLRs (80 percent) were barriers to their use of DLRs for instructing EL students to someextent or to a large extent. In addition, about two-thirds of teachers reported that the following werebarriers to some extent or to a large extent: time to find DLRs (68 percent); lack of knowledge ofavailable DLRs and how to choose among them (67 percent); costs of DLRs (67 percent); lack ofprofessional development on how to use specific DLRs (63 percent); and difficulty in finding DLRs
appropriate to their students’ needs (63 percent).

xv

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Recommendations to Improve the Usefulness of DLRs for Instructing EL
Students
Districts and teachers provided suggestions on how DLRs and their use could be improved to bettersupport EL students in learning language and content. These included engaging EL students in working
with academic content while building language and literacy skills; providing embedded visual, auditory,
and other support features to help EL students to understand and work with the content in all DLRs;
providing supports in multiple languages to address a broader range of EL students’ home languages;
and providing grade-level content and age-appropriate design for older beginning level EL students, suchas newcomers.
Additional recommendations were related to implementation and included: ensuring that DLRs are easy
to use for students and for teachers; providing teachers with professional development on integrating
DLR use in instruction, especially hands-on training and coaching; and assisting districts and teachers tounderstand the range of DLRs available, how to select among them, and how to determine which DLRs
are appropriate for their EL students.

Conclusions
This study sought to understand how districts and teachers identified DLRs they used with EL students,
the range of DLRs used and how they are used, and the supports for and barriers to using DLRs in
instructing EL students. Most districts reported that they placed a high priority on using DLRs and mostteachers reported that they used DLRs in instructing their EL students. Some findings suggest there arediffering needs and instructional challenges for mainstream teachers of EL students and EL specialists,and differing resources available among districts with different levels of EL students. These may be
useful to consider when conducting research or developing guidance to support DLR use with EL
students. The results also describe educators’ suggestions for educational technology developers anddistrict leaders on steps to improve DLRs and their use in instructing EL students. Further research isneeded to understand the efficacy of these recommendations and of practices in using DLRs when
instructing EL students— including EL students with disabilities and their requirements for accessibility.
Such research could inform guidance for educators in selecting and using DLRs to better support
learning for all EL students, as well as for students overall in grades K–12.

xvi

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Chapter I. Introduction
English learners (ELs) are one of the fastest growing student demographics in the United States, and are
a diverse group, representing over 400 different language backgrounds. In the 2015–16 school year,
there were 4.8 million EL students in grades K–12 in U.S. public schools, accounting for 10 percent of allenrolled students (U.S. Department of Education 2018). Over school years 2009–10 to 2014–15, 32
states saw increases in their EL student enrollments, and for five of those states, the increases were over
40 percent (U.S. Department of Education 2017a). Also, over the past decades, teachers have gained
increased access to digital technologies for instruction (U.S. Department of Education 2017b). For
example, as of 2009, almost every public school (98 percent) had internet access and almost all teachers(97 percent) had one or more computers in their classrooms (Gray, Thomas, and Lewis 2010a, 2010b).
Many teachers report using Digital Learning Resources (DLRs) to enhance and differentiate theirstudents’ language and content area instruction.
To date, there have been no national data to inform the field on whether and how teachers are using
digital technologies to instruct EL students. This report describes data collected in school year 2016–17
to learn about the use of DLRs in instructing EL students through a nationally representative survey of
districts that enrolled EL students, a teacher survey that included mainstream teachers and EL
specialists, and six case studies. In addition to this final report, the products of the study included two
toolkits, one to inform educators on the range of DLRs and considerations in using DLRs for EL students
and one to inform educational technology developers about recommendations for improving DLRs for
EL students.

Study Purpose and Methods
The study describes districts’ and teachers’ reported use of DLRs in instructing EL students in grades
K–12 to inform the field on current practice and to provide findings that may guide future research,
practice, or policy to improve EL students’ academic achievement and gains in language proficiency.
The study addressed four questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

How do districts and teachers identify DLRs for instructing EL students?
What types of DLRs do teachers use and how do they use DLRs in instructing EL students?
What are supports for and barriers to DLR use in instructing EL students?
How can educators and technology developers improve the usefulness of DLRs in instructionof EL students?

Some EL students are also students with disabilities. For these students, accessible technology used in
the classroom can remove barriers to important educational content. 2 However, this study did not2

All public school students with disabilities have rights under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (42 U.S.C. 12134; 29 U.S.C. 794; 28 C.F.R. Part 35; 34 C.F.R. Part
104). For more information on the rights of students with disabilities, seewww.ed.gov/ocr/frontpage/faq/rr/policyguidance/disability.html.

1Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

examine technology use in instructing EL students with disabilities as a separate group; this could be a
topic for a separate study.

Methodology
The study conducted a district survey and a teacher survey in the 2016–17 school year. In addition, casestudies in six districts provided further insights through on-the-ground descriptions and examples of DLR
use in instructing EL students related to the study questions. 3

District Survey Sample
The sample design for the district survey was a nationally representative stratified random sample of999 public school districts that enrolled at least one EL student, as identified in the 2013–14 National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data (CCD) Local Education Agency Universe File.
Because the number of EL students in a district may influence levels of access to EL resources and theavailability of EL-instructional expertise, we stratified the sampling frame of districts that enrolled EL
students into three categories of EL student representation (Exhibit 1).
Exhibit 1.

Category

U.S. public school districts that enrolled EL students: number of districts, percentage ofdistricts, number of EL students, and total number of students enrolled, in three
categories of EL student representation, 2013–14
Number Percentage
of districts of districts

Definition

High-EL districts Enrolled more than 1,000 EL students
and EL students accounted for 10
percent or more of the total student
population

Number of Total number
EL students of students

624

6%

3,045,683

14,233,565

2,645

24%

1,251,274

20,624,534

Low-EL districts Enrolled 100 or fewer EL students

7,700

70%

178,929

15,500,218

Total

10,969100%

4,475,886

50,358,317

Moderate-EL
districts

Enrolled between 101 and 1,000 EL
students, or enrolled more than 1,000
EL students and EL students were lessthan 10 percent of all students

Exhibit reads: High-EL districts were districts that enrolled more than 1,000 EL students and EL students accounted
for 10 percent or more of the total student population. There were 624 high-EL districts, representing 6 percent of
U.S. public school districts that enrolled EL students in 2013–14, with 3,045,683 EL students and 14,233,565 total
students enrolled.
Source: 2013–14 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data (CCD) Local Education Agency Universe file.

3 See Appendix A in Volume II: Technical Appendices for a more detailed discussion of the methodology and Appendix D for thedata collection instruments.

2

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Readers should note that high-EL districts generally tend to be much larger in size than low-EL districts,
which could also explain differences that are found between these two groups. The sample included 333
districts in each of the three strata. The use of strata with equal sample sizes is the most efficient designfor making comparisons among the strata, helps to ensure that key subgroups are adequately
represented in the sample, and improves the sampling precision for selected subgroup estimates. As aresult, both high-EL districts and moderate-EL districts were oversampled relative to their frequency
among all public school districts. For example, if all districts were sampled with equal probability, then
only 57 high-EL districts would be selected, which would be too few to provide reliable estimates andsupport comparisons with low-EL districts.
The district surveys were directed toward the administrator(s) most knowledgeable about instructional
services for EL students, such as the district coordinator for EL student instruction, and respondents
were encouraged to include input from other administrators as needed. The study reports findings froma total of 767 districts (269 high-EL, 265 moderate-EL, and 233 low-EL districts), a response rate of 79
percent overall. The response rates by strata were: high-EL districts, 81 percent; moderate-EL districts,
80 percent; and low-EL districts, 76 percent. Appendix B summarizes characteristics of the districts.

Teacher Survey Sample
The teacher sample was designed to be a stratified probability sample of 1,200 teachers from 600
schools to be randomly selected from 600 subsampled districts. To be eligible for the teacher sample, ateacher must have taught at least one EL student in the 2016–17 school year. The teacher sample wasdivided into two equal groups:•

Mainstream teachers included teachers whose primary responsibility was instruction of
students in a school’s main grade-level classroom or content area class that was not structured
as specialized instruction for EL students and who instructed one or more EL students.

•

EL specialists included those who taught English as a Second Language or English Language
Development classes, bilingual or dual language immersion classes or programs, shelteredinstructional classrooms, newcomer classes, and/or other specialized instructional services
designed for EL students.

To select the teacher sample, we oversampled 743 districts from the district sample (to help ensure 600
participating schools), then randomly selected schools, using district lists of schools that indicated EL
student enrollment. To identify sampled teachers, we asked schools to provide a list of teachers thatindicated which teachers taught EL students. However, this approach to selecting a nationally
representative sample of teachers of EL students ultimately was not successful given low levels of
district participation. Challenges included school and district policies against releasing teacher names,
reluctance to release teacher names, and difficulty identifying teachers of EL students. Consequently, we
adjusted the teacher sampling strategy in two ways. First, we increased the target number of teachers
per school from two teachers to six teachers. The revised sampling process resulted in selection of 593
teachers from 163 schools that provided teacher lists for sampling (22 percent of 736 sampled schools).
Second, we revised the teacher sampling process. In schools that had not provided a list of teachers andhad not refused to participate in the study (67 percent of sampled schools), we asked principals to selectup to six teachers to be surveyed, with the instructions that the teachers must instruct EL students inthe current year and that both mainstream teachers and EL specialists be included, where both served
EL students in the school. For these schools, it was not possible to know the number of eligible teachers3Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners(e.g., there may have been fewer than six) or the number of teachers that principals selected, since theschools did not provide a list of teachers or information on which teachers received surveys.
There were a total of 717 teacher surveys received (60 percent of the planned total of 1,200). Of these,
11 indicated that the teacher did not teach EL students in the current year, resulting in 706 teacher
survey respondents (59 percent of the planned total). Overall, there were 332 school list-selected
respondents (47 percent of all respondents, unweighted; 72 percent, weighted) from 136 schools and374 principal-selected respondents (53 percent of all respondents, unweighted; 28 percent, weighted)
from 127 schools). The response rate for list-selected teachers was 56 percent (based on 593 sampledteachers). It is not possible to calculate a response rate for the principal-selected teachers since there
was no way to know the number of teachers who taught EL students at each school. Overall, the findings
are based on responses from 457 mainstream teachers of EL students, 232 EL specialists, and 17
teachers of unknown teacher type. Appendix B summarizes the surveyed teachers’ backgroundcharacteristics.
By asking principals to select the teachers, there was a potential that principals could, intentionally orunintentionally, select teachers who differed in systematic ways from the overall teacher population. To
examine this possibility, the study team compared the list-selected teachers and those chosen by theprincipals. There appeared to be a slight tendency for principals to have selected those teachers who
were most easily identified as teaching EL students, such as EL specialists, and correspondingly, a slighttendency for overall teacher data to be more like the responses of EL specialists than otherwise would
be expected.
However, the school-list selected group and the principal-selected group were highly similar in boththeir teacher characteristics and in their survey responses. Overall, the impact of including the principalselected teachers appears to have been relatively minor, both because the differences in teacher
characteristics and in survey responses were small and because EL specialists constitute a relatively
small proportion of the population. Still, additional unknown biases from the principals’ involvement in
the sample selection may exist. Thus results from the teacher survey should be considered as estimatesand are not nationally representative.

Case Study Sample
Six districts were purposively selected for case studies: two districts each with high-EL, moderate-EL, andlow-EL student concentration. In addition, the final six districts varied in characteristics of the EL student
population (home language and number of students), EL program types, urbanicity (based on the
U.S. Department of Census geographic locale codes), geographic region, and districts with and without astated technology plan. Researchers visited each district for two days and conducted interviews with
district-level respondents and school leaders and teachers at two schools in each district (12 schools
across the six districts). Across the six districts, there were a total of 65 interviews, including 17 district
administrators and 48 school administrators and teachers. Thirty-two of the interviewed teachers
provided a demonstration of a DLR they commonly used, and the project team conducted classroom
observations of 13 mainstream teachers and five EL specialists.

4Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Analysis and Reporting of Findings
Surveys
Data in this report are often presented in two formats: as overall findings and disaggregated by key
subgroups. More specifically, district findings include comparisons of high-EL districts versus low-EL
districts when these include statistically significant differences. Similarly, the report presents findings
when these include statistically significant differences for teacher responses by type of teacher(mainstream teachers versus EL specialists); for teachers in high-EL districts versus those in low-EL
districts; for elementary versus secondary teachers; and for first-year versus more experienced teachers.
The survey data were weighted to adjust for the probability of selection and nonresponse. Unlessspecified otherwise, all findings in this report are based on weighted data and are for the 2016–17
school year, and statements of comparison (e.g., that mainstream teachers were more likely to give acertain response than EL specialists) are reported only if the difference was statistically significant at
p<.05. The statistical tests used were either independent t-tests or, when the comparisons were notacross independent groups, chi-square tests. Some exhibits present a large number of comparisons (upto 15), increasing the chance that a comparison might appear significant by chance; to adjust for the riskof multiple comparisons, Bonferroni corrections were applied.
To assist the reader, the exhibits use color schemes to distinguish different types of analysis, as follows:
Red
Blue
OrangePurpleGreen

Findings for all districts
Comparisons between high-EL and low-EL districts
Findings for all teachers
Comparisons between mainstream teachers and EL specialists
Comparisons between teachers in high-EL and in low-EL districts

Case Studies
All recorded interviews were transcribed and the transcriptions coded using qualitative analysis
software (Dedoose). Researchers applied initial codes relevant to each research question and expanded
and refined the codes through an iterative process in which emerging themes were identified. The
research team discussed the key themes emerging within individual sites and examined dimensions ofsimilarity and variation across districts and across types of respondents. The report integrates case study
findings to offer illustrative vignettes and practitioner comments related to DLR use in instructing EL
students.

5

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

DLR Framework and Definitions
As defined in this study, DLRs are applications (apps), software, programs, or websites that are designed
to engage students in learning activities and support students’ learning goals. 4 This definition specificallydoes not include technology hardware; it excludes the computers, laptops, interactive whiteboards andother hardware or infrastructure needed to use the DLRs. The study’s framework examined DLRs in
three broad categories, based upon the key content and purposes of the tools:
1. Digital Academic Content Tools are designed to offer academic content resources or engage
students in activities to learn academic content or skills including, but not limited to, language
and literacy content or skills. Examples are a tutorial on a new math skill, a physics or mathsimulation, or visual resources such as a short video that describes a geographic formation.
2. Digital Productivity Tools are designed to offer resources to help students to plan, document,
organize, and analyze content. These tools do not contain academic content; examples include aslide presentation tool, a timeline tool, or a concept-mapping tool.
3. Digital Communication Tools are designed to offer resources students can use to communicate,collaborate, network, or share information. These tools do not contain academic content;
examples include document-sharing tools to support joint work, or a journal or blog tool.
Developers often combine multiple related DLRs from one or more DLR categories into a single unified
academic product, termed here an Integrated DLR Set, providing teachers and students with multiple
tools available in what is intended to be a seamless context. A district might purchase a district-wide
license for its use or purchase licenses for use in selected subject areas or by selected teachers, either asa core curriculum or as a supplemental resource for instruction.
The full set of types of DLRs used in the data collection is found in the sample questionnaires inAppendix D. For brevity, and to focus on major themes in the data, this report discusses a collapsed setof DLR types, as shown in Exhibit 2.

4

The study DLR Framework was based upon and further refined an initial framework defined in Zehler et al. 2012.

6

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 2.

Categories and types of DLRs discussed in this report

DLR category

DLR types

Description

Academic
Content Tools

Languagetutorials/practice*
Academictutorials/practice*
References andresources
Simulations/virtualworldsWebsites

Tutorials, lessons, and practice and assessment tools focused on basic
English vocabulary, language skills, and/or literacy.
Tutorials, lessons, and practice and assessment tools focused on math,science, and/or other academic content areas.
References and resources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and topicfocused blogs, websites, e-books, and videos, designed as K–12 resources.
Simulations, dynamic modeling tools, or virtual worlds that immerse
students in interactive environments to build academic skills or knowledge.
Commercial and other websites or resources not designed as content for
K–12 learning activities, such as an online product site (teacher survey only).
Tools that assist students by providing a translation to another language.
Tools that inform and assist students to pronounce and speak a language
accurately, such as through images and record-and-compare activities.

Translation
Articulation
Productivity
Tools

Presentation
Information
organization
Spreadsheets

Tools that enable students to present information such as in a slidepresentation or in a digital story they publish; these may include music,
images and/or video.
Tools that assist students in representing content, such as concept-maps
that show relationships among sets of information, and story-templates
that assist students to communicate a narrative using text and/or images.
Spreadsheet and data analysis tools that enable students to organize, track,
analyze and summarize information.

Communication Collaboration
Document-sharing tools or other tools that provide an online platform
Tools
where students can work on products together.
Blogs, chats,
Discussion boards, blog, chat, journal and/or other tools to sharejournals
perspectives with others or to use for reflection on experiences.
Video-conferencing Conferencing and meeting tools to remotely see and speak with others.
*Report findings for this type of DLR includes data from up to three related survey items. See Appendix A for details on these items.

Study Limitations
The teacher findings are estimates based on a combined sample of randomly selected teachers andteachers selected by principals. The response rate for teachers selected randomly from rosters was
56 percent. The principal-selected teachers comprised 28 percent (weighted) of the total teacher
respondents. While the principal-selected teachers responded similarly to the randomly selectedteachers, findings reported for teachers are not nationally representative and the results should beinterpreted with caution. There were six purposively selected case studies conducted to provide
illustrative vignettes and practitioner comments on DLR use in instructing EL students. The case study
findings are not nationally representative and may not generalize to the nation as a whole.

7

This page intentionally left blank.

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Chapter II. Identification of DLRs and DLRs Provided for
Instructing EL Students
This chapter examines districts’ approaches to identifying DLRs, the sources district administrators andteachers of EL students 5 used to identify DLRs, and the criteria and embedded support features
important to them in selecting DLRs.

Three-fourths or more of districts reported that they gave a high priority to using
DLRs, provided a wide range of DLRs to support instruction, and took EL students’needs into account when obtaining DLRs.
Most districts responded that using DLRs was a high priority goal, with 41 percent reporting theystrongly agreed and 44 percent somewhat agreed (Exhibit 3). Districts indicated that they provided awide range of DLRs to support instruction (33 percent strongly agreed; 46 percent somewhat agreed),
and roughly three-fourths of districts said that the needs of EL students were taken into account whenobtaining DLRs for use in the district (31 percent strongly agreed; 46 percent somewhat agreed).
Exhibit 3.

Percentage of districts reporting various approaches to using DLRs

Exhibit reads: Forty-one percent of districts strongly agreed that using DLRs is a high priority goal within theirdistrict and 44 percent somewhat agreed, for a total of 85 percent.
Source: District survey, item 8 (n = 755 districts).

5 Readers should note that the teacher survey sample was not nationally representative and these results should be interpretedwith caution. See Chapter 1 and Appendix A for additional information about the teacher sample selection.

9

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Sources for Identifying DLRs
Most districts reported using teacher requests as a source for identifying DLRs for
EL students.
Classroom teachers (81 percent) and EL specialists (78 percent) were sources 6 that most districts
reported using to identify some or most DLRs for EL students specifically. Other sources that the
majority of districts reported using to identify DLRs for EL students were school administrators (69percent), district administrators (68 percent), and a committee that meets to review and select DLRs
(60 percent) (Exhibit 4). Similarly, most districts (92 percent) reported that they used classroom teachers
as a source for identifying DLRs for students in general education classes, and most also reported using
school administrators (83 percent) and district administrators (78 percent) as sources. Other sourcesthat the majority of districts reported using to identify DLRs for general education students were acommittee that meets to review and select DLRs (73 percent) and EL specialists (63 percent).
Across the case study districts, many administrators stated that they were more likely to agree to a DLR
purchase when a number of teachers were already using the DLR, when teachers thought that the DLR
was effective in improving students’ learning outcomes, or when teachers reported that the DLR was
successful in engaging their students.
Case study teachers noted that in addition to making requests for DLRs to district administrators, theyobtained DLRs through other means as well. For example, the teachers mentioned submitting proposals
for funding to other sources, making low-cost purchases on their own, and obtaining free DLRs. The
teachers commented that they typically requested support for a DLR purchase from their school or
district when the DLRs they identified were too costly to purchase on their own. As one mainstream
teacher of EL students from the case study explained:“Well, anything that would be free, I would be able to choose. Anything that would needa subscription, I would have to go to the district.”
In two of the case study districts, respondents described a process in which a district committee worked
to identify and select DLRs for EL students and general education students. One of these districts
reported holding a vendor fair each summer as part of their process. As described by the district
respondent, the district committee, consisting of administrators, teachers, technology facilitators, andcurricular instructional leaders, would first research DLRs that met the district’s goals and showed
evidence of effectiveness based on external evaluation. Next, the committee invited the vendors topresent during the annual vendor fair. The vendors presented information on their DLRs toadministrators, teachers, technology facilitators, and curricular instructional leaders, who then rated
each DLR using a district-created rubric. Finally, the committee members discussed each DLR andcompleted a survey indicating their preferences. The respondent stated that the district administrators
used the data from this survey to identify the new DLRs for the district to purchase or obtain.

6 Districts responded to an item that listed the five sources. They responded to indicate whether they used each source toidentify none, some or most DLRs.

10

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 4.

Sources that districts reported using to identify most or some DLRs for instructing EL
students specifically and general education students

Exhibit reads: Twenty-four percent of districts reported using classroom teachers’ requests to identify most DLRs
for EL students specifically, and 56 percent reported using classroom teachers’ requests to identify some DLRs, fora total of 81 percent. This total is statistically different from the total of 92 percent of districts that reported usingclassroom teacher requests to identify DLRs for students in general education.
*The total percentage of districts using the source to identify most or some DLRs for EL students specifically is statistically different from thetotal percentage using the source to identify most or some DLRs for general education students (p < .05).
Notes: The total of the percentage reporting “most” and the percentage reporting “some” may differ from the details shown, due to rounding.
Source: District survey, item 11 (n = 718 districts).

11Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to report using teachers,
administrators and committees as sources to identify DLRs for their EL students.
For all five of the listed sources, there were statistically significant differences between high-EL and lowEL districts (Exhibit 5). For example, 81 percent of high-EL districts reported using a committee to selectDLRs for EL students versus 51 percent of low-EL districts, and 87 percent reported using a district
administrator versus 61 percent.
For high-EL districts, the five sources showed roughly equal levels of use, with each reported as used by
between 81 and 88 percent of the districts. By contrast, the percent of low-EL districts that reported
using the five sources ranged from 51 percent for use of a committee to 77 percent for use of classroom
teachers. EL specialists (72 percent) and classroom teachers (77 percent) were sources low-EL districts
often indicated using.
Exhibit 5.

Sources that districts reported using to identify some or most DLRs for instructing
EL students, in high-EL and low-EL districts

SourceA committee selects DLRs*
District administrators identify DLRs*
School administrators identify DLRs*
EL specialists request DLRs*
Classroom teachers request DLRs*

Percentage ofhigh-EL districts

Percentage of
low-EL districts

Percentage point
difference

81
87
84
88
86

51
61
65
72
77

30
26
19
16
9

Exhibit reads: Eighty-one percent of high-EL districts reported using a committee to identify some or most DLRs for
instructing EL students compared with 51 percent of low-EL districts, a difference of 30 percentage points. Thisdifference is statistically significant.
*Percentage for high-EL districts is statistically different from percentage for low-EL districts (p < .05).
Source: District survey, item 11 (n = 249 high-EL districts and 222 low-EL districts).

12

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Most teachers surveyed reported that they identified specific DLRs for instructing
EL students based on the recommendations of fellow teachers and district or
school administrators.
Ninety-one percent of teachers reported using recommendations from their fellow teachers and 86
percent reported using recommendations from district or school administrators. In addition, themajority of teachers reported using professional development sessions on DLRs provided by the district(74 percent) and online searches (73 percent) as sources for identifying DLRs (Exhibit 6) 7. Fewer thanhalf (39 percent to 44 percent) reported using recommendations of students or students’ families,
searches of online DLR collections, online teacher blog sites, and guidance from regional centers. There
were no statistically significant differences in reported sources used for mainstream teachers and EL
specialists. However, first-year teachers were more likely than experienced teachers to report using
recommendations of their fellow teacher as sources (99 percent vs. 91 percent) (Exhibit C-1 8).
Teachers in the case study districts provided examples of the sources they used. An EL specialist in one
district described turning to a teacher whom she viewed as a technology leader in her school. She notedthat the “technology leader” was completing her master's degree in teaching EL students and taking
courses related to using technology with EL students. The EL specialist commented that this teacher
leader offered recommendations to other teachers in the school, and provided guidance both in
identifying DLRs and in implementing them with EL students. Other teachers described using online
searches to identify DLRs, describing use of websites that allowed them to pin, post, and share ideas andimages through social networking. For example, they reported searching for online resources (free andpaid) created by other teachers or educators through searches of teacher blogs, and through online
microblogging platforms.

7

Readers should note that the teacher survey sample was not nationally representative and these results should be interpretedwith caution. See Chapter 1 and Appendix A for additional information about the teacher sample selection.
8
Exhibits C-1 and following refer to exhibits in Appendix C in Volume II: Technical Appendices.

13

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 6.

Sources that teachers reported using sometimes or often to identify DLRs for instructing
EL students

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 91 percent reported that they used
the recommendation of their fellow teachers sometimes or often to identify DLRs for instructing EL students.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 25 (n = 557 teachers).

14

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Criteria in Selecting DLRs
When selecting DLRs, over 80 percent of districts reported that they considered itvery important that the DLR fit within the district’s infrastructure and budget,
engage students, align with state standards, have research showing effectiveness,and provide English-language or literacy skills instruction for EL students.
In fact, for 14 of the 16 criteria listed on the district questionnaire, one-half or more of all districts
reported considering the criterion as very important to them in selecting DLRs (Exhibit 7). Included
among these criteria were two related to selecting DLRs for EL students specifically. Slightly more thanhalf of districts reported that they considered it very important that the DLR was designed for EL
students (56 percent) and that the DLR provided mathematics, science, or social studies instruction for
EL students (54 percent). The two least commonly used criteria in selecting DLRs were that the DLR canbe used by pairs or groups of students to collaborate (44 percent) and that the DLR operates within thestudent’s home internet capacity (41 percent).
Case study respondents cited several of these same criteria as important to their decision making when
asked about how their district made decisions on which DLRs to adopt. For example, one district
technology coordinator interviewed said that the decision to adopt a DLR was very much driven by the
curriculum and that she worked closely with the curriculum staff to decide which tools to bring into the
district. This coordinator also said that her district tends to lean towards DLRs that work within theircurrent environment, so that, for example, students and parents do not have to memorize multiple
usernames and passwords. District administrators interviewed also consistently cited cost as a key factor
they considered when selecting a DLR. Finally, one district administrator stressed the importance of
research evidence of effectiveness:“We almost always look for an outside study that was done. Not done by the company
themselves to say, ‘Look how great our tool is’ …we look for that research study that wasdone by an outside organization. If it has that, it makes the first cut.”15

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 7.

Criteria that districts reported were very important in selecting DLRs

Exhibit reads: Eighty-eight percent of districts reported that whether the DLR can operate within the current
district infrastructure is a very important criterion in selecting DLRs.
Source: District survey, item 12 (n = 744 districts).

As a rule, high-EL districts and low-EL districts gave similar importance to the various criteria(Exhibit C-2). However, high-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to consider it very
important for the DLRs to have embedded professional development on its use (70 percent vs.
46 percent); be designed specifically for EL students (70 percent vs. 50 percent); be easy for teachers touse (77 percent vs. 63 percent); and to be aligned with state standards (92 percent vs. 81 percent).

16

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Seventy-nine percent of districts reported that they considered visual support
features (such as images that can be used to explain content) as very importantwhen selecting DLRs for use with EL students.
Examples of visual support features include visual images that may help a student to understand new
vocabulary. Further, roughly two-thirds of districts reported considering three other types of embedded
support features as very important in selecting DLRs for EL students: various levels of text difficulty forthe same content (66 percent); having a range of features specifically to support EL students(65 percent); and auditory supports (such as text-to-speech “read alouds” that enable a student to hear
the text) (64 percent) (Exhibit 8). Somewhat smaller percentages of districts indicated definitions in
simple English, interactive dictionaries, and translation (50 percent to 58 percent), and fewer than halfof districts considered providing materials in EL students’ languages and a record-and-replay function asvery important (43 and 40 percent, respectively).
Exhibit 8.

Support features that districts reported were very important in selecting DLRs for
instructing EL students

Exhibit reads: Seventy-nine percent of districts reported that whether the DLR can provide visual support to
explain or clarify the content and vocabulary is a very important feature in selecting DLRs for use with EL students.
Source: District survey, item 13 (n = 720 districts).

17

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to report consideringcertain support features, such as visual and auditory supports, as very importantwhen selecting DLRs for use with EL students.
For both high-EL and low-EL districts, visual supports were the most commonly indicated type of support
feature; however, almost all (93 percent) high-EL districts versus about three-quarters (74 percent) of
low-EL districts reported that they considered visual supports as very important in selecting DLRs for EL
students (Exhibit C-3). Other reported support features that showed differences between high-EL andlow-EL districts were: providing various levels of text difficulty for the same content (84 percent of highEL districts vs. 63 percent of low-EL districts); including a range of features specifically designed tosupport EL students (83 percent vs. 57 percent); providing auditory supports (78 percent vs. 60 percent);
and including materials in the languages of the districts’ EL students (59 percent vs. 39 percent)(Exhibit C-3). The two groups of districts were similar in their views regarding other support features. For
example, about half of both high-EL and low-EL districts considered an embedded translation function asvery important in selecting DLRs for EL students.

Ninety percent or more of teachers reported that in selecting DLRs for instructing
EL students it was very important for them that the DLR is easy for students touse, the content is adaptive, and there are various levels of text difficulty for thesame content.
In addition, most teachers (82 percent to 86 percent) reported considering alignment with state
standards, ease of use for themselves, and alignment with the curriculum as very important. Slightly
more than half of teachers indicated as very important to them that the DLR was available through the
district or school (60 percent); that it allows students to direct their own learning (58 percent); that
other teachers have used the DLR successfully with students (54 percent); and that the DLR engages
students in learning activities that are structured as a game (52 percent) (Exhibit 9).
First-year teachers as compared with more experienced teachers were more likely to report that inselecting DLRs for EL students they considered it very important that the DLR is adaptive (99 percent vs.
92 percent); is aligned with state standards (99 percent vs. 85 percent); can be used by students with
their parents or families (92 percent vs. 62 percent); and allows students to direct their learning(85 percent vs. 56 percent) (Exhibit C-4).
When asked about the criteria their school uses when considering which DLRs to adopt, case study
respondents cited several criteria. The majority of school-level case study respondents mentioned that itshould be easy to use for the students and teachers. For example, a teacher said that he really liked aparticular DLR that he frequently used in the classroom because he was able to create “class-worthy”
activities for his students in just 10–15 minutes. Many case study teachers noted that they especiallyvalued DLRs that were able to keep students engaged while using the program. A mainstream teacher
commented,“I want something that’s going to keep them interested, that’s going to engage them,
that’s going to give them the knowledge that I want them to have, the content I wantthem to have, or even just reinforce what I’m teaching.”

18

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 9.

Criteria that teachers reported were very important in selecting DLRs for instructing EL
students

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 74 percent of teachers reported thatwhether the DLR allows students to track their own progress is a very important feature in selecting DLRs for
instructing EL students.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 26 (n = 557 teachers).

19

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

A case study principal commented on the importance of DLRs aligning with the school’s goals in order toensure that the DLR effectively meets the needs of all students and helps the school achieve its goals:“...we want it [the DLR] to align with the goals of our school improvement team, ourschool improvement plan, and make sure that what we’re working with and what we’re
working on is going to not only meet the needs of our learner but meet the needs of thegoals of the school because then it always provides us a – a place to go back to.”Several mainstream teachers and EL specialists, at both upper elementary and secondary grade levels,
stated that it was challenging to find DLRs that were age-appropriate for their beginning ELs in higher
grade levels. For example, EL specialists noted that DLRs specifically designed to develop students’ early
literacy skills (e.g., learning the alphabet, decoding, beginning reading, and vocabulary) often usedanimations or visuals intended for elementary school students. They further noted that DLRs with suchjuvenile designs were not appropriate for older students and that it was hard to keep their older
students engaged using such DLRs. As one secondary EL specialist reported: “You can find reading
passages but then they’re so baby-looking that some kids don’t want to use them once they get to highschool.”Most teachers (89 percent) reported that visual support features were very
important to them in selecting DLRs for EL students.
In addition to visual supports, three other DLR features were very important to a majority of teachers inselecting DLRs for EL students: definition functions to explain a word or concept using simple English(68 percent), interactive dictionaries and glossaries (61 percent), and text-to-speech functions that let a
student hear a word or phrase (60 percent). Fewer than half of teachers indicated that materials in EL
students’ languages and a record and replay function were very important (Exhibit 10).

20

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 10. Support features that teachers reported were very important in selecting DLRs for
instructing EL students

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 89 percent of teachers reported thatthey considered visual supports for understanding such as images, illustrations, graphics, virtual manipulatives, orvideo as a very important feature in selecting DLRs for instructing EL students.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 27 (n = 571 teachers).

Mainstream teachers and EL specialists differed on the importance they gave to two DLR functions.
Mainstream teachers were more likely than EL specialists to consider a translation function to be very
important (63 percent vs. 39 percent), while EL specialists were more likely than mainstream teachers toconsider a record and replay function (so students could record and review their own voices) as very
important (45 percent vs. 23 percent) (Exhibit C-5).
Many case study teachers commented on the importance of having visual and auditory support
components in a DLR to support EL students. For example, they described using images and short videos
to help introduce new vocabulary to their EL students rather than relying on text or spoken description
alone.

21

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Teachers in high-EL districts were more likely than those in low-EL districts toindicate that they considered support features such as interactive dictionaries andglossaries to be very important in selecting DLRs for their EL students.
Teachers in high-EL districts were more than twice as likely to report that such language support
features were very important (73 percent vs. 35 percent) (Exhibit C-6).
There were also differences for teachers of different grade levels and for first-year versus experienced
teachers in the features they considered very important in selecting DLRs for instructing EL students.
Elementary teachers were more likely than secondary teachers to report that it was very important for
DLRs to include a text-to-speech function that lets a student hear a word or phrase (78 percent vs.
35 percent) (Exhibit C-7). First-year teachers were more likely than more experienced teachers to reportthat it is very important for DLRs to include visual supports for understanding such as images orillustrations (98 percent vs. 89 percent) and to have a translation function (89 percent vs. 57 percent)(Exhibit C-8).

Types of DLRs Provided for Instruction
As described in Chapter I, this study examined DLRs in three broad categories: digital academic content
tools, digital productivity tools, and digital communication tools, and within each category, reported on
several types of DLRs. Looking very broadly, and considering DLRs for general education students,
99 percent of districts provided at least one DLR, and 85 percent provided DLRs that collectively
included academic content tools, productivity tools, and communication tools (Exhibit 11). Districts also
almost universally provided at least one DLR specifically for instructing EL students (96 percent), and68 percent provided DLRs that collectively included the three categories of academic content tools,
productivity tools, and communication tools. Again with regard to DLRs specifically for EL students,
almost all districts (94 percent) reported providing DLRs with academic content for EL students,
83 percent provided productivity tools and 70 percent provided communication tools.

22Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 11. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided various categories of DLRs for EL
students specifically and for general education students

Exhibit reads: Ninety-four percent of districts reported providing an academic content DLR for EL students
specifically and 99 percent reported providing an academic content tool for general education students. Thisdifference is statistically significant.
* Percentage for EL students specifically is statistically different from percentage for general education students (p < .05).
Notes: “All three categories” refers to the three categories of DLRs: Academic content tools, productivity tools, and communication tools. “Twoof the three categories” and “only one category” indicate that a district reported using tools within two, or only one, of these three categories.
Source: District survey, items 9 and 10 (n = 745 districts, for EL students and 749 districts, for general education students).

23

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Ninety-one percent of districts reported providing language tutorials or practice
DLRs for EL students specifically.
In addition to language tutorials or practice DLRs, DLRs that districts most often provided for EL students
were reference and resources (84 percent), translation (80 percent), academic tutorials or practice(79 percent), and presentation (79 percent) (Exhibit 12). These were consistent with the types of DLRs
most districts reported providing for general education instruction: language tutorials or practice,academic tutorials or practice, presentation, and references and resources DLRs (92 percent to97 percent). The DLRs that districts least commonly reported providing were video-conferencing andsimulations or virtual worlds, for general education (57 percent and 67 percent, respectively) and for EL
students specifically (42 percent and 49 percent).

Districts were more likely to report providing DLRs for general education students
than for EL students specifically.
In some cases, there were substantial differences between the DLRs provided for general education
students and those provided specifically for EL students. For example, 96 percent of districts reported
providing academic tutorials or practice DLRs for general education students versus 79 percent for EL
students specifically. The differences between DLRs provided for general education instruction and for
EL students specifically were statistically significant for all DLRs listed, with the exception of translation
and articulation DLRs.
Case study teachers in one district reported that their district discouraged or did not permit use of thesetools due to their state’s English-only policy. Other teachers in the case studies stated they usedtranslation tools to support their EL students’ comprehension, for example, in translating directions fornewcomer students, who are just beginning to learn English.

High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to report certain types of
DLRs, including language tutorials or practice DLRs and productivity andcommunication DLRs.
The differences between high-EL districts and low-EL districts were in providing language tutorials orpractice DLRs (97 percent of high-EL districts vs. 89 percent of low-EL districts); presentation (87 percent
vs. 76 percent); information organization (80 percent vs. 69 percent); spreadsheets (79 percent vs.
64 percent); and in blogs, chats, and journals (70 percent vs. 54 percent) (Exhibit C-9). There were no
DLR types that low-EL districts were more likely to provide.

24

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 12. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided various types of DLRs, for EL students
specifically and for general education students

Exhibit reads: Ninety-one percent of districts reported providing language tutorials or practice DLRs for EL students
specifically and 97 percent reported providing language tutorials or practice for general education students. Thisdifference is statistically significant.
* Percentage for EL students specifically is statistically different from percentage for general education students (p < .05).
Source: District survey, items 9 and 10 (n = 745 districts, for EL students and 749 districts, for general education students).

25

This page intentionally left blank.

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

III. Teachers’ Use of DLRs in Instructing EL Students
This chapter describes what teachers of EL students reported about their use of DLRs in instructing their
EL students in the 2016–2017 school year and the indicators that districts and teachers reported using tojudge the effectiveness of general education DLRs. 9 Although almost all districts provided DLRs to
support instruction of EL students and general education students, teachers’ use of those DLRs may vary
within or across districts and that variation may be related to teacher or district characteristics. Where
there are significant differences between the responses of mainstream teachers and EL specialists or
between teachers in districts with high and low concentrations of EL students, we present the results
separately for each subgroup. The teacher findings in this chapter are based on the percent of teachers
who reported using DLRs when instructing their EL students.

Use of DLRs
Eighty-five percent of teachers surveyed reported using DLRs in instructing EL
students.
Of the teachers using DLRs, 62 percent reporting using at least one type of DLR daily in instructing their
EL students and an additional 27 percent reported using at least one DLR type weekly (Exhibit 13). 10
There were no significant differences in reported DLR use between mainstream teachers and EL
specialists, between teachers in high-EL versus low-EL districts, or based on teachers’ years ofexperience.

9 Readers should note that the teacher survey sample was not nationally representative and these results should be interpretedwith caution. See Chapter 1 and Appendix A for additional information about the teacher sample selection.

10Teachers reported their use for different types of DLRs. These percentages are based only on the most frequently used type,as reported by each teacher.

27

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 13. Teachers’ reported frequency of DLR use in instructing EL students

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 62 percent of teachers reported
daily use of a DLR in instructing EL students.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item. Frequency
was calculated as the highest level of frequency of use for a DLR that a teacher indicated.
Source: Teacher survey, item 23 (n = 575 teachers).

Districts, schools, and teachers have a wide range of DLRs to choose from, including DLRs designed forall students and DLRs designed for particular subgroups of students, such as EL students and struggling
students.

Among teachers who reported using DLRs for instructing EL students, 79 percent
used a combination that included use of DLRs designed for EL students, DLRs
designed for struggling students, and DLRs designed for general education
students.
Considering each separately, almost all teachers reported at least some use of DLRs designed for general
education students (95 percent) and for struggling students (91 percent), and most (84 percent)reported use of DLRs designed for EL students (Exhibit 14).

28

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 14. Percentage of teachers reporting at least some use of DLRs, by type of student for whom
the DLR was designed

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 84 percent of teachers reported atleast some use of DLRs designed primarily for EL students.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item. “All threegroups” indicates that an individual teacher reported using a range of DLRs that collectively addressed three groups of students; that is, theteacher reported use of DLRs designed for EL students, DLRs for struggling students, and DLRs for general education students. “Two of the threegroups” and “only one group” indicate that the DLRs a teacher reported using were DLRs that collectively addressed two of the three groups or
the DLRs were those that addressed one of the groups.
Source: Teacher survey, item 24 (n = 574 teachers).

29

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Teachers were more likely to report weekly or daily use of general education DLRs
than of DLRs designed primarily for EL students (85 vs. 65 percent).
This difference also was statistically significant for mainstream teachers (88 percent vs. 69 percent) but
not for EL specialists (Exhibit 15). 11
In case study interviews, some mainstream teachers explained that they often included their EL students
in using general education DLRs with the rest of the class, so as not to single out the EL students by using
a different DLR for them. These teachers also noted that some general education DLRs had features that
helped EL students to understand and work with the DLR content. For example, they noted that in some
DLRs students could click on a word to get the definition in simpler English or obtain a translation of theword in their home language.
There were differences for some subgroups in reported use of DLRs designed for general education
students, for EL students, and for struggling students. Considering the use of general education DLRs
separately, mainstream teachers compared with EL specialists were more likely to report using the DLRs
in instructing EL students on a weekly or daily basis (88 percent vs. 67 percent) (Exhibit 15). Similarly,
considering DLRs designed primarily for EL students, mainstream teachers were more likely than EL
specialists to report weekly or daily use (69 percent vs. 53 percent).
Most teachers in high-EL districts reported using DLRs designed specifically for EL students and DLRs for
struggling students weekly or daily in instructing their EL students, while about half of teachers in low-EL
districts reported daily or weekly use of these DLRs. The difference between the teachers in high-EL
districts and teachers in low-EL districts was statistically significant for reported use of DLRs designed for
struggling students (85 percent vs. 44 percent) (Exhibit C-10).
First-year teachers more often than experienced teachers reported weekly or daily use of DLRs designed
primarily for EL students and DLRs primarily designed for struggling students. Eighty-five percent of firstyear teachers versus 65 percent of more experienced teachers reported weekly or daily use of DLRs
designed for EL students; and 89 percent versus 68 percent reported weekly or daily use of DLRs
designed for struggling students (Exhibit C-11).

11 Throughout this chapter, note that fewer EL specialists responded to the survey than mainstream teachers (204 EL specialists

vs. 356 to 359 mainstream teachers for this analysis, depending on the survey item), resulting in generally larger standard
errors for EL specialists.

30

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 15. Percentage of teachers reporting that their EL students used DLRs weekly or daily,
by type of teacher and by type of students for whom the DLRs were designed

Exhibit reads: Of EL specialists who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 53 percent reported weekly or
daily use of DLRs designed primarily for EL students, compared with 67 percent who reported use of DLRs designed
primarily for general education students. This difference is not statistically significant.
* Percentage for DLRs designed primarily for EL students is statistically different from percentage for DLRs designed primarily for general
education students (p < .05).
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 24 (n = 359 mainstream teachers and 204 EL specialists)31

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Availability and Use of Digital Academic Content, Productivity, andCommunication Tools
Most teachers of EL students reported having access to multiple DLR types within
three broad categories of DLRs.
Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 97 percent reported academic content
tools were available, 90 percent reported productivity tools were available, and 84 percent reported
communication tools were available 12 (Exhibit 16). There was no statistically significant difference
between mainstream teachers and EL specialists in DLR availability.
Exhibit 16. Percentage of teachers reporting that various categories of DLRs were available to them

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 97 percent of teachers reported thatat least one academic content tool was available to them.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, items 21 and 22 (n = 562 teachers).

12The availability of the three broad categories of DLRs (academic content, productivity, and communication) was roughly

similar to the district findings. See Exhibit 11 in Chapter II for district statistics.

32

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

About two-thirds of teachers surveyed reported using digital references andresources tools, language tutorials or practice tools, presentation tools, andacademic tutorials or practice tools weekly or daily in instructing their EL
students.
Teachers most often reported that they used digital references and resources (82 percent), language
tutorials and practice tools (81 percent), presentation tools (77 percent), and academic tutorials orpractice tools (75 percent). Forty-six percent or less reported use of simulations or virtual worlds tools,
spreadsheets or data analysis tools, articulation tools, blogs, chats, or journals tools, and videoconferencing DLR tools (Exhibit 17). Teachers’ use of DLRs may depend not only on teachers’ choices but
also on DLR availability; for example, the least used tool (video conferencing, used by 13 percent ofresponding teachers) was also the least available, as reported by districts. 13
Looking at teachers who reported using these tools weekly or daily, the pattern is similar to the findings
for at least some use. For example, roughly half or more of teachers used the same four types of digital
tools weekly or daily in instructing EL students: language tutorials or practice (65 percent), academic
tutorials or practice (60 percent), reference and resources (60 percent), and presentation tools(48 percent). There were no statistically significant differences in usage between mainstream teachersand EL specialists.
Teachers in high-EL districts were more likely than those in low-EL districts to report weekly or daily useof articulation tools in instructing their EL students (47 percent vs. 14 percent) (Exhibit C-12). In the casestudy districts, many teachers described using slide presentation DLRs to help students understand newcontent. The slide presentations included various images, videos, and other materials that they pulledfrom reference and resource DLRs. Teachers also commented that they frequently used reference andresource tools such as visual images (photo and video) to support all students, and that this support was
especially beneficial for their EL students. For example, an elementary school EL specialist in one casestudy site reported often using a video-sharing platform or online images to help introduce new words.
A mainstream secondary school math teacher reported often using online videos to give visual
representations of math concepts to help all of her students understand, including her EL students.
In the case studies, across all grade levels, teachers’ descriptions of the DLRs they used showed anemphasis on language and literacy content. Mainstream teachers most often said they used tutorials orpractice DLRs to help students develop their academic vocabulary, strengthen basic skills, and improvereading fluency and comprehension. Several mainstream teachers also mentioned using digital mathtutorials to help students practice basic math skills, particularly at the elementary level. Also, in three ofthe six case study districts, elementary school teachers reported using DLRs to give students practicetyping before the state standardized test, commenting that their students did not always come into
school with experience in using computers or knowing how to type using a keyboard.

13

As shown in Chapter II in Exhibit 12, video-conferencing was the type of DLR that districts were least likely to report that they
provided for instructing EL students; 42 percent of districts reported providing video-conferencing tools, compared with muchhigher percentages that reported providing, for example, language tutorials or practice tools (91 percent) and references andresources tools (84 percent) for instructing EL students.

33

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 17. Percentage of teachers reporting that they used various DLRs in instructing EL students,
by frequency of use

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 82 percent of teachers reported atleast some use of references and resources DLRs and 60 percent reported weekly or daily use.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 23 (n = 575 teachers).

34

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Contexts for EL Students’ Use of DLRs
Teachers reported on the extent to which their EL students used DLRs within several different activity
contexts. 14, 15 These included independent or individual work facilitated by an instructor; whole-classactivity; pair or group work (either with all EL students or in a mixed pair or group of EL students andEnglish speakers); and student use in their free time. Teachers also reported on how often they assigned
DLR use outside of class and for DLR use at home with family members (Exhibit 18).

The majority of teachers reported that EL students often used DLRs when working
independently (61 percent) or as part of a whole class activity (60 percent); few
teachers reported assigning EL students to use DLRs outside of class (16 percent).
In case study interviews, several teachers stated that both their EL students and English-proficient
students frequently worked independently at their own pace on the same DLR. This ability todifferentiate activities was, in fact, one of the most valuable features of DLRs, according to respondents.
As one mainstream teacher noted, DLRs allowed students to move at their own pace and to redo lessons
as needed, which the EL students in her class really appreciated. However, teachers in two districts
commented that EL students sometimes worked on different DLRs or one-on-one with the teacher while
English-proficient students in the class worked on another activity.
A majority of mainstream teachers interviewed in the case study districts described using DLRs in wholeclass activities to introduce content. For example, they projected slide presentations, images, websites,or videos for the whole class. They used productivity DLRs to assess learning, such as, through apps thatcan create and administer interactive quizzes to students.
Considering other contexts for DLR use, fewer than one in five surveyed teachers reported that EL
students were assigned work with DLRs for outside of class. Sixteen percent of teachers surveyedreported that EL students often were assigned to use a DLR to continue learning outside of class, and10 percent of teachers reported that EL students often were assigned to work with parents or otherfamily members at home using a DLR (Exhibit 18).
Most teachers in the case study interviews noted that they generally did not assign DLR use for students
outside of the classroom given their concern that some students might not have access to computers,
DLRs, or internet capacity at home. However, a small number of other case study teachers did assign
DLR work for outside of class and offered examples. One teacher, who used an online flashcard app inher class, stated that a useful feature of the DLR was that students could use it on their cell phones so
the EL students could quiz themselves on vocabulary, for example, while in the car. Examining survey

14Teachers responded to the survey question to indicate frequency of DLR use for each context. The options were: not at all,rarely, sometimes, often, and all of their work on DLRs. Based on the survey responses, some of the respondents apparently
understood the last option to refer to all work in the individual context rather than all DLR work, using “all of their work on
DLRs” for more than one context. This response option was seldom used; no more than 2 percent of teachers indicated it for
any context. The analysis combines responses “all of their work on DLRs” and “often” responses for each context, and reports
these as “often.”

15The study did not obtain data on the proportion of time teachers used the different contexts in a typical instructional day or

week.

35

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

data, about one third of surveyed teachers reported that they did not assign any DLR work outside of
the class (32 percent) or specifically for work at home with family (38 percent).
Exhibit 18. Percentage of teachers reporting various activity contexts in which their EL students used
DLRs often

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 61 percent of teachers reported
that, when EL students worked independently, they often used DLRs.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 30 (n = 573 teachers).

Mainstream teachers were more likely than EL specialists to report that students often worked with
DLRs as part of whole-class activities (63 percent vs. 31 percent), in activities where they worked in pairs
or groups of EL students and English speakers (50 percent vs. 23 percent), and in work with DLRs in pairs
or groups of EL students (45 percent vs. 19 percent) (Exhibit C-13).

36

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Measures Used to Assess the Effectiveness of DLRs in Instructing
EL Students
The majority of districts reported that they used EL students’ performance on English language
proficiency tests (65 percent), scores on state assessments (64 percent), and EL students’ progress
progression on reading book levels (60 percent) to track the effectiveness of DLRs for instructing EL
students (Exhibit 19). Additionally, half or more districts reported that they tracked EL student
performance on district assessments (57 percent), grades on report cards (52 percent), and scores on inclass assessments (50 percent). Least commonly reported indicators were credits earned toward
graduation (46 percent) and student attendance (45 percent). High-EL districts were more likely thanlow-EL districts (66 percent vs. 53 percent) to report using scores on district assessments as tracking
tools (Exhibit C-14).
Exhibit 19. Percentage of districts reporting various indicators that they used to track theeffectiveness of DLRs for EL students

Exhibit reads: Sixty-five percent of districts reported using performance on English proficiency tests as an indicator
for tracking the effectiveness of DLRs for EL students.
Source: District survey, item 20 (n = 694 districts).

37

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Administrators in the case study districts reported using several informal tools,
such as teacher input, to track the effectiveness of DLRs for EL students.
Most case study district and school administrators stated that they assessed the effectiveness of DLRs bycollecting informal data on teacher satisfaction, student engagement, and frequency of DLR use. In one
district, for example, the EL services coordinator asked teachers about their experiences in using the
DLRs and collected anecdotes from teachers about how the DLRs were benefitting students. In another
district, DLR subscriptions were renewed based on the frequency of the DLR use.
In a third district, the school technology coordinator reported hosting informal discussions for teachers.
The coordinator used these opportunities to ask how teachers were using the DLRs in class and to obtain
their perspectives on whether the DLRs were worth the district’s investment. The coordinator reported
that she also examined how those teachers’ students performed on standardized tests in conjunction
with the frequency of their DLR use.
Surveyed teachers reported using multiple approaches to judge the effectiveness of DLRs for EL
students. Some of the commonly used tools were EL student scores on in-class assessments(89 percent), EL student scores on district assessments (76 percent), and EL student progress on readingbook levels (72 percent) (Exhibit 20).

38

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 20. Percentage of teachers reporting various indicators that they used to judge theeffectiveness of DLRs in supporting EL students

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 89 percent of teachers reported
using EL student scores on in-class assessments to judge the effectiveness of DLRs in supporting EL students.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 33 (n = 563 teachers).

In the case study interviews, the majority of teachers commented that they considered the DLRs to beeffective if they increased student engagement, were popular with students, or if they observed that
their students’ DLR use was correlated with academic growth. For example, two mainstream teachers
noted that when they asked their students to compose essays on the computer using a DLR, thestudents were much more engaged and less reluctant to write. Other teachers stated that they viewed a
DLR as successful if it supported students in learning the content. Similarly, an EL specialist reported that
she looked for improvement in scores on the English proficiency assessment and on other state
standardized tests. These findings suggest that teachers relied on their observations of students inevaluating DLRs; none mentioned that they looked for rigorous evaluation studies of the DLR.

39

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Benefits of DLR Use Reported by Case Study Teachers
Across the case studies, teachers described how they felt their use of DLRs benefitted both themselves
and their students. Many teachers across most of the case study districts reported that DLRs allowed
them to more capably differentiate instruction for students. For example, one mainstream teacher
noted that DLRs allowed students to move at their own pace and redo lessons as needed, which the EL
students in her class really appreciated. A mainstream teacher in another district commented that she
was able to assign different lessons in the DLR based on students’ prior performance which allowed
some students in her math class to be working on more basic skills such as counting while others could
move on to addition and subtraction skills.
Many case study teachers commented that DLRs also offered them expanded ways to communicate
with their students and to assist students in understanding new content. Mainstream teachers and EL
specialists in several districts, for example, said that they often used online videos or images to help
them introduce new words to students. They commented that these multi-media ways ofcommunicating appeared to be very helpful for their students, especially for those EL students for whom
the word or concept was new.
Finally, several mainstream teachers and EL specialists across most districts said that they felt that abenefit of using DLRs was the increased student engagement they observed. For example, one EL
specialist noted that the EL students she worked with were often too shy to speak up in front of class,and so these students seemed to prefer activities that they could complete on their own or with apartner. Two other teachers commented on the benefits of gaming components in DLRs. One teacher
noted that the gaming elements appeared to make the DLRs more enjoyable for students, and amainstream teacher stated that EL students seemed to be more willing to participate in group
discussions when they were using a game-based DLR in which all students had to work together toadvance in the game.

40

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Chapter IV. Supports for, and Barriers to, DLR Use in
Instructing EL Students
This chapter describes the professional development and other supports related to DLR use that districts
reported providing and that teachers 16 reported that they received. It also outlines the perceived
barriers to DLR use in instructing EL students that districts and teachers of EL students identified in thesurvey responses and in case study interviews.

Professional Development and Other Supports for Use of DLRs
District-provided Professional Development and Other Supports
Almost all districts reported providing at least some type of professional
development or other support for DLR use in instructing general education
students, and most reported providing some such support for DLR use in
instructing EL students specifically.
Ninety-eight percent of districts reported that they provided at least some form of formal professional
development or some form of other support for DLR use in instructing general education students over
the three-year period, school years 2014–15 to 2016–17. Formal professional development included
workshops, coaching, or in-class assistance to teachers in use of DLRs; other supports included access toonline professional development, funding to attend conferences, and time for planning or collaboration.
Seventy-seven percent of districts reported at least some form of professional development or othersupport for DLR use with EL students specifically.
Considering the types of professional development or other supports provided for DLR use in general
education instruction, about three-fourths of districts reported providing workshops on a specific DLR(79 percent), workshops on integration of DLRs in instruction (75 percent), and access to online or webbased professional development (72 percent) (Exhibit 21). Districts most commonly reported thatproviders of formal professional development on DLR use in general education were internal
educational technology experts (74 percent) and general education teachers (66 percent) (Exhibit 21).
With regard to supporting DLR use specifically with EL students, fewer than one-half of districts reported
providing workshops on features of a specific DLR (46 percent), access to online professional
development (45 percent), and funding to attend conferences (44 percent). Internal educational
technology experts (39 percent) and EL specialists (35 percent) were the most commonly reported
providers of formal professional development for DLR use related to EL students specifically. About
30 percent of districts reported that district professional development administrators, DLR vendor
representatives, general education teachers, and district instructional technology coaches provided
professional development support (Exhibit 21).

16 Readers should note that the teacher survey sample was not nationally representative and the results based on the teacher

survey data should be interpreted with caution. See Chapter 1 and Appendix A for additional information about the teacher
sample selection.

41

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Districts were least likely to report that an external educational technology expert provided professional
development in their district. This was true related both to support for DLR use in instructing general
education students (29 percent) and support for DLR use with EL students specifically (16 percent).

Districts were less likely to report providing professional development and othersupports for DLR use in instructing EL students specifically as compared withprofessional development for instructing general education students.
Districts were less likely to report offering each of the eight listed types of supports for using DLRs in
instructing EL students specifically as compared with offering the supports for DLR use in instructing
students in general education classes. The differences in the supports that districts reported ranged
from 14 percentage points to 37 percentage points (Exhibit 21). For example, 38 percent of districts
reported providing workshops on the integration of DLRs in instructing EL students specifically versus
75 percent of districts reporting such workshops for DLR use with students in general education classes.
Also, 32 percent of districts reported providing direct coaching support to teachers to assist them in
integrating DLR use for EL students specifically compared with 58 percent of districts reporting suchcoaching related to DLR use for general education students. There were similar differences in othertypes of supports for DLR use. As an example, 45 percent reported providing access to online sources ofprofessional development focused on DLR use with EL students specifically, while 72 percent reported
providing such support for teachers instructing general education students.
In describing the persons who provided professional development, districts were more likely to reportthat EL specialists provided professional development related to DLR use with EL students than for DLR
use in general education. For all other types of providers listed, districts were more likely to indicate thatthese provided professional development related to DLR use in general education than for instructing EL
students specifically.

42

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 21. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided various types of professional
development (PD) and other supports related to DLR use and the persons providing
professional development, for instructing EL students specifically and for instructing
general education students

Exhibit reads: Forty-six percent of districts reported providing workshops on features of a specific DLR for
instructing EL students specifically, and 79 percent of districts reported providing these for instructing general
education students. This difference is statistically significant.
*Percentage for EL students is statistically different from percentage for general education students (p< .05).
Source: District survey, item 14 (n = 711 districts).

43

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to report providing
professional development workshops, coaching, and in-class assistance related to
DLR use in instructing EL students.
There were large and statistically significant differences for the four types of professional development
listed. For example, high-EL districts were twice as likely as low-EL districts to report providing
workshops related to DLR use with EL students addressing features of a specific DLR (72 percent vs.
36 percent) (Exhibit 22). There were no statistically significant differences for high-EL versus low-EL
districts in other supports districts reported providing for DLR use (e.g., access to online or web-based
professional development). High-EL districts were more likely to report using vendor representatives,
district staff, and specialists as providers of professional development (Exhibit 22). However, external
technology experts were the least commonly reported provider for both high-EL and low-EL districts(18 percent and 14 percent, respectively) (C-15).
Exhibit 22. Percentage of districts reporting that they provided professional development (PD)related to DLR use in instructing EL students specifically, and the persons providing theprofessional development, in high-EL and low-EL districts
Percentage ofhigh-EL districts

Percentage of
low-EL districts

Percentage-point
differenceType of PD
Workshops on features of a specific DLR*
Workshops on integration of DLRs in instruction*
Direct coaching support to integrate DLR use*
One-on-one, in-classroom assistance on specific DLRs*

72
60
54
50

36
30
24
29

36
30
30
21

Persons Providing PD
DLR vendor representative*
EL specialist*
District PD administrator and/or coordinator*
District instructional technology coach*Internal education technology expert*
General education teacher*

59
57
48
39
49
40

19
25
23
20
34
26

40
32
25
19
15
14

Type of PD and person providing PD

Exhibit reads: Seventy-two percent of high-EL districts reported providing workshops on features of a specific DLR
for instructing EL students, compared with 36 percent of low-EL districts, a 36 percentage-point difference. Thisdifference is statistically significant.
* Percentage for high-EL districts is statistically different from percentage for low-EL districts (p < .05).
Source: District survey, item 14 (n = 253 high-EL and 210 low-EL districts).

44

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Teacher-reported Receipt of Professional Development and Other Supports for
DLR UseOverall, about two-thirds of teachers surveyed reported that they received 10 or
fewer hours of formal professional development related to DLRs over a three-year
period.
About half of teachers (49 percent) reported receiving one to 10 hours of professional development,
and 15 percent reported no hours, over three school years, 2014–15 to 2016–17. About one-quarter ofteachers reported more than 25 hours of professional development over the three-year period(Exhibit 23).
Exhibit 23. Percentage of teachers reporting the hours of formal professional development on DLRs
that they received over a three-year period from 2014–15 to 2016–17

Exhibit reads: Twenty-seven percent of teachers reported more than 25 hours of formal professional development
related to the use of DLRs from their school or district over a period of three years, 2014–15 to 2016–17.
Source: Teacher survey, item 34 (n = 682 teachers).

Across all districts, EL specialists reported fewer hours of professional
development in DLR use than did mainstream teachers.
EL specialists (72 percent) were more likely than mainstream teachers (47 percent) to report one to 10
hours of professional development related to DLRs over school years 2014–15 to 2016–17. The two
subgroups were almost equally likely to report receiving no hours of professional development related
to DLRs (13 percent and 12 percent). Combining these findings, EL specialists (84 percent) as comparedwith mainstream teachers (60 percent) were more likely to report 10 or fewer hours of professional

45

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

development on DLRs over the three-year period. At the upper range of hours reported, mainstream
teachers (31 percent) were more likely than EL specialists (7 percent) to report receiving more than 25hours of professional development 17 (Exhibit 24).
Exhibit 24. Percentage of teachers reporting the number of hours of formal professional
development on DLRs that they received over a three-year period from 2014–15 to
2016–17, by type of teacher
Hours

Percentage ofmainstream teachers

Percentage ofEL specialists

Percentage point
difference

More than 25 hours*
31
7
24
11 to 25 hours
9
9
0
1 to 10 hours*
47
72
-25
None
13
12
1
Exhibit reads: Thirty-one percent of mainstream teachers of EL students reported that they received more than 25hours of formal professional development related to the use of DLRs over a three-year period from 2014–15 to
2016–17 compared with 7 percent of EL specialists, a difference of 24 percentage points. This difference isstatistically significant.
* Percentage for mainstream teachers is statistically different from percentage for EL specialists (p < .05).
Source: Teacher survey, item 34 (n = 438 mainstream teachers and 227 EL specialists).

In the case study districts, only a few EL specialists and mainstream teachers of EL students reported
participating in professional development on the use of DLRs specifically for instructing EL students. In
fact, across all districts in the case studies, most mainstream teachers interviewed said that they would
like to learn about using DLRs in instructing their EL students.
Teachers most commonly reported receiving professional development in the form of workshops on
integrating DLRs in instruction (71 percent), workshops on how to use the features of a specific DLR(70 percent) and coaching on integrating DLRs in instruction (69 percent). Teachers also reported
receiving other district-provided supports that enabled them to learn about and work with DLRs on theirown. About half of teachers indicated use of release time for planning DLR use, online modules provided
by the district, and time allocated for collaboration with other teachers (from 47 to 55 percent)(Exhibit 25).

About half of teachers surveyed reported receiving professional development
specific to using DLRs with EL students.
Between 44 and 51 percent of surveyed teachers reported receiving workshops, coaching, andscheduled consultations with an ESL or other EL specialist teacher on use of DLRs for instructing EL
students specifically (Exhibit 25). There were no statistically significant differences between mainstream
teachers and EL specialists for any of the types of professional development listed.

17There was substantial variation in the amount of professional development that mainstream teachers received, with

60 percent receiving 10 hours or fewer of professional development, while 31 percent received more than 25 hours. In part,the number of hours of professional development was related to teachers’ level of experience, with the less experienced
teachers receiving more professional development: Mainstream teachers who received 26 or more hours of professional
development had a mean of 6.6 years of teaching at the K–12 level, while mainstream teachers who received 25 or fewer
hours of professional development had a mean of 12.2 years.

46

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

In the case study districts, some teachers of EL students described the professional development theyreceived as in their view more typically focused on how to use specific features or functions of individual
DLRs rather than on how to incorporate the use of the DLRs into their instruction. For example, theteachers commented that the professional development focused on specifics such as how to set up
student accounts, how students should log in, or how students could access audio features to listen toan unfamiliar word. As one mainstream teacher stated:“… [I learned]…just the workings of the system. There was not a specific training about
how are you going to use this for your instruction.”
The type of training or professional development that teachers indicated they felt would be most helpful
was guidance grounded in actual instructional practice. For example, one teacher described herexperience with a professional development training that she viewed as very useful for her as follows:“It was presented from an educator standpoint, not from a digital resource standpoint.
…the two days’ training was actually put on by teachers who actually teach in theclassroom… so it was put on by the educators themselves. And so it was very good tosee… [that] it wasn’t them just teaching you how to use the software. It was teaching
you how to integrate it into what you’re already doing as an educator.”47

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 25. Percentage of teachers reporting that they received various types of formal professional
development (PD) on DLR use in general and on DLR use specific to EL students over athree-year period from 2014–15 to 2016–17

Exhibit reads: Seventy-one percent of teachers reported receiving formal professional development related to DLR
use in general through workshops on integrating DLRs into instruction over a three-year period, from 2014–15 to
2016–17.
Source: Teacher survey, item 35 (n = 682 teachers).

48

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Teachers in high-EL districts were more likely than teachers in low-EL districts toreport receiving professional development workshops related to use of DLRs ingeneral.
Teachers in high-EL districts were more likely than teachers in low-EL districts to report receiving
workshops on DLR use on integrating DLRs into the classroom (79 percent vs. 43 percent) andworkshops on using features of specific DLRs (78 percent vs. 42 percent) (Exhibit C-16).
Teachers also reported on the helpfulness of the formal professional development and other supports
they received in the past three school years. In order to make teachers’ responses comparable acrossthe various supports, only teachers who received a support are included in the calculations for that
support. 18

One-third or more of teachers reported that they felt that individual release time
for planning related to the use of DLRs, workshops on integrating DLRs into
instruction in general, and joint time allocated for teachers to discuss the use of
DLRs were extremely helpful to their use of DLRs in instructing EL students.
Between 27 and 31 percent of teachers considered other forms of professional development as
extremely helpful. For example, these included in-class assistance and coaching on integrating DLRs ingeneral and for EL students specifically. Slightly less than one quarter (24 percent) of teachers indicatedthat they felt that online modules and workshops on working with specific DLRs were extremely helpful,and 16 percent considered consultations with EL specialists as extremely helpful to their use of DLRs
with their EL students.
However, examining combined responses (extremely helpful and moderately helpful), the findings
provide a different perspective on how teachers viewed support through their consultations with EL
specialists. Among professional development and supports that teachers considered either extremely
helpful or moderately helpful, two highly appreciated types were workshops on selecting DLRs for thegeneral classroom (79 percent of teachers) and consultations with EL specialists (77 percent). Also,
nearly three-fourths of teachers considered other types of professional development extremely ormoderately helpful: workshops on working with a specific DLR (72 percent); workshops on integrating
DLRs into instruction in general (71 percent); coaching on integrating DLRs for ELs (71 percent); andcoaching on selecting DLRs for EL students (71 percent) (Exhibit 26).

18

Only teachers who received a support were included in the statistics for that support. The exclusion of teachers who did notreceive the supports reduces the number of teachers substantially, often by about half, making comparisons acrosssubgroups of teachers inappropriate.

49Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 26. Percentage of teachers reporting that they viewed various types of formal professional
development they received as extremely helpful or moderately helpful to their use of
DLRs with EL students

Exhibit reads: Thirty-seven percent of teachers who received individual release time for planning related to using
DLRs reported that in their view it was extremely helpful to their use of DLRs with EL students, and 32 percent
reported that they felt it was moderately helpful, for a total of 69 percent of teachers.
Notes: Teachers who did not receive a particular type of support are excluded from the calculations. Only teachers who received a support
were included in the statistics for that support. The exclusion of teachers who did not receive the supports reduces the number of teachers
substantially, often by about half, making comparisons across subgroups of teachers inappropriate.
Source: Teacher survey, item 35 (n = 682 teachers).

50

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Receipt of Informal Professional Development Related to Use of DLRs
Three-fourths or more of teachers reported receiving informal professional
development through collaboration with other teachers or through using
collaborative online sites.
Teachers reported that they collaborated through group discussions with other teachers (82 percent),
informal collaboration or mentoring with another teacher (80 percent), and reported learning about DLR
use independently through online professional communities, discussion boards, and other collaborative
sites (76 percent) (Exhibit 27). A majority of teachers (61 percent) also reported learning about DLRs
through online searchable DLR collection sites. In searchable DLR online sites, users can apply key terms
to identify DLRs and can obtain reviews or user comments on specific DLRs. About half of teachers(53 percent) reported consulting with an EL specialist. Teachers’ responses were similar for bothmainstream teachers and EL specialists.
Most mainstream teachers and EL specialists in case study districts reported that they valued
opportunities to collaborate with peers around DLR use, such as through hallway conversations, gradelevel team meetings, or email. Several teachers from across all districts also reported using online
resources to learn about DLRs, but the teachers did not refer to using searchable DLR collections.
Most EL specialists in the case study districts described supporting mainstream teachers. For example,
one EL specialist commented that the teachers knew to come to her for resources on DLRs and for ideas
on instruction. She described her role as guiding mainstream teachers on how to use a new DLR geared
toward EL students and suggesting activities within a DLR to help the students learn specific skills.
Another EL specialist mentioned that she would suggest specific DLRs for mainstream teachers to use
with their EL students.

51

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 27. Percentage of teachers reporting that they received various types of informal
professional development over a three-year period from 2014–15 to 2016–17

Exhibit reads: Eighty-two percent of teachers reported that they received informal professional development
related to the use of DLRs in instruction in the form of group discussions with other teachers over a three-year
period from 2014–15 to 2016–17.
Source: Teacher survey, item 36 (n = 684 teachers).

52

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

In some case study districts, teachers reported that they received support for DLR
use from other teachers whom they viewed as technology leaders, that is,teachers who were early adopters of DLRs, strong users of technology, and who
were willing to share their knowledge.
Some case study teachers noted that when they received guidance from technology leaders they not
only learned how to use the specific DLR, they also received useful information on how to incorporate
its use into their instruction. For example, one mainstream teacher reported that she learned a strategy
for using the audio feature in her presentation software as a way to scaffold vocabulary development
for her students.
The case study interviews highlighted that much of the guidance offered by teachers viewed astechnology leaders was often quite informal. One mainstream teacher noted that she felt fortunate that
she had somebody to ask for help who was right down her hallway, commenting:“I mean I’m lucky in that her classroom is located across the hall from mine, so I
communicate with her. Whenever I have a question, she’s always there to talk to us
about different resources and different things to do. It’s all completely informal, though.
It’s like in the hallway, in the passing time. We do not have time set aside. We just do it
on a daily basis informally.”

Most surveyed teachers reported that they felt collaboration with anotherteacher (84 percent), group discussion with other teachers (78 percent), andinformal consulting with an EL specialist (72 percent) were helpful to their use of
DLRs with EL students.
Also, more than half of teachers reported that in their view other informal supports were helpful (either
extremely helpful or moderately helpful). These were support to attend a conference (69 percent);
learning online through collaborative sites (64 percent); and learning online through searchable DLR
collections (54 percent) (Exhibit 28). 19

19

Only teachers who received a support were included in the statistics for that support. The exclusion of teachers who did notreceive the supports reduces the number of teachers substantially often by about half, making comparisons across subgroupsof teachers inappropriate.

53Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 28. Percentage of teachers reporting that they viewed various types of informal professional
development they received as extremely helpful or moderately helpful to their use of
DLRS with EL students

Exhibit reads: Thirty-nine percent of teachers of EL students reported that in their view informal collaboration withanother teacher was extremely helpful for their use of DLRs with EL students, and 45 percent reported that theyfelt it was moderately helpful, for a total of 84 percent.
Notes: Teachers who did not receive a particular type of support are excluded from the calculations. The total of the percentage reporting“extremely helpful” and percentage reporting “moderately helpful” may differ from the details shown, due to rounding.
Source: Teacher survey, item 36 (n = 684 teachers).

54

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Barriers to DLR Use
Barriers Reported by Districts
Districts most commonly reported that barriers to DLR use were students’ lack ofhome access to DLRs, teachers’ need for expertise in instructing EL students,
teachers’ level of technology skills, and a lack of knowledge of DLRs appropriate
to EL students.
Eighty percent or more of districts considered students’ lack of home access, teachers’ need for
instructional expertise related to EL-students, teachers, technology skills, and lack of knowledge about
DLRs for EL students as barriers to some extent or to a large extent. In addition, about three-quarters of
districts indicated that they viewed insufficient funds to purchase DLRs (75 percent), lack of knowledgeof the range of DLRs (73 percent), and lack of funds for providing teachers with professional
development on integration of DLRs (70 percent) as barriers to some extent or to a large extent. Factors
less commonly noted as barriers were insufficient technical support to troubleshoot hardware andsoftware issues (43 percent) and insufficient network speed and reliability (39 percent) (Exhibit 29).
Respondents in all case study districts noted barriers related to access, including lack of a sufficientnumber of computers for individual students (i.e., lack of one-to-one computers) and barriers due to thecost of DLRs and related hardware. Beyond hardware issues, case study teachers commented thatbarriers included lack of knowledge of and familiarity with using DLRs to support EL students andstudents in general. Also, school and district administrators in all six districts mentioned lack of training
and professional development for teachers as a barrier. While administrators recognized that teachers
needed more assistance in learning how to incorporate DLRs in instruction and training to help them
become comfortable with using technology, several administrators acknowledged that their school or
district was limited in what it could provide. For example, administrators reported that budget
constraints affected their ability to provide professional development and technology. Competing
priorities for limited professional training days also posed a challenge for administrators to provide
training on DLRs.
In general, high-EL districts and low-EL districts indicated similar barriers to DLR use for EL students.
However, there were two exceptions. High-EL districts were more likely than low-EL districts to reportthat students’ lack of home access to DLRs was a barrier to some extent or a large extent (92 percent vs.
82 percent) and more likely to report that teachers’ level of technology skills was a barrier (91 percent
vs. 79 percent) (Exhibit C-17).

55

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 29. Percentage of districts reporting various barriers to DLR use in instructing EL students, toa large extent or to some extent

Exhibit reads: Thirty-one percent of districts reported that insufficient funds for purchasing DLRs was a barrier to alarge extent for use of DLRs with EL students, and 44 percent reported it was a barrier to some extent, for a total of
75 percent of districts.
Source: District survey, item 15 (n = 725 districts).

56

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Barriers Reported by Teachers
Most teachers (68 percent to 80 percent) considered the time required to work with DLRs — to find,learn, and set up for DLRs — as a barrier to their DLR use to some extent or to a large extent. In addition,a majority of teachers reported barriers related to lack of professional development on how to use
specific DLRs (63 percent) and lack of in-class support on using DLRs for instruction (58 percent).
However, most teachers felt supported in DLR use by their principals, with 19 percent of teachers
indicating that lack of their principal’s support for use of DLRs was a barrier to their DLR use in
instructing EL students (Exhibit 30).

Most teachers considered students’ lack of internet access at home as a barrier tosome extent or to a large extent to DLR use in instructing EL students.
About four out of five teachers indicated that students’ lack of internet capacity at home and lack ofhome access in ways other than related to internet capacity (e.g., lack of computers in the home) werebarriers to some extent or to a large extent (78 percent and 79 percent). Students’ lack of DLR access athome was commonly mentioned as a barrier by educators in the case study districts. Some teachers
explained that they did not assign homework that would require students to use DLRs at home because
they believed that several students were in homes without DLR access.
About two-thirds of teachers indicated other factors as barriers to some extent or to a large extent,
including costs of DLRs, lack of knowledge of available DLRs and how to choose among them, lack ofprofessional development on how to use specific DLRs, and difficulty in finding DLRs appropriate to theirstudents’ needs.
Fewer teachers indicated that the internet capacity available for instruction presented a barrier to their
DLR use. About a third of teachers considered insufficient reliability of access to the internet(35 percent) and insufficient internet capacity (33 percent) as barriers. One in four teachers (25 percent)reported that the policy in their school or district related to DLR use was a barrier.
There were few differences by teacher subgroups in their reported barriers to DLR use in instructing EL
students. First-year teachers were more likely than more experienced teachers (90 percent vs.
62 percent) to report that a lack of professional development on using specific DLRs was a barrier totheir use of DLRs for instructing EL students (Exhibit C-18). Teachers in low-EL districts were more likely
than those in high-EL districts to report that the time needed to find DLRs was a barrier to some extent
or a large extent (88 percent vs. 50 percent) (Exhibit C-19).

57

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Exhibit 30. Percentage of teachers reporting various barriers to DLR use in instructing EL students, toa large extent or to some extent

Exhibit reads: Of teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing EL students, 26 percent of teachers reported thattime to set up or trouble-shoot DLRs for use was a barrier to a large extent to DLR use in instructing EL students,and 54 percent reported that it was a barrier to some extent, for a total of 80 percent.
Notes: Only those teachers who indicated in an earlier item that they used DLRs in instructing EL students responded to this item.
Source: Teacher survey, item 31 (n = 222 teachers).

58

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Most case study teachers cited a number of barriers to their DLR use. They pointed to the lack ofsufficient technology equipment such as computers or other hardware at school, and the lack of fundingfor equipment, as barriers. In addition to limited opportunities to use equipment, teachers reported that
it was difficult for students to become familiar with the equipment when it must be shared by several
teachers.
At least some teachers in all six case study districts described the challenges in gaining access tohardware, for example, sharing laptops or tablet carts in a system that requires advance sign-up. As an
extreme example, one teacher reported that as many as 13 teachers shared the same equipment. Other
barriers mentioned by case study teachers were technical difficulties such as difficulty in accessing theinternet and inconsistent connectivity.
Case study teachers also commented that they felt certain content and design characteristics of DLRs
posed barriers for their EL students. Many teachers cited the level of language and content in DLRs
designed for general education use as too complex for their EL students. Teachers in all but one casestudy district explained that the vocabulary used in the DLR could be too complex for EL students, andespecially for newcomers. One teacher noted the example of a DLR with a ‘beginner’ word list that
included the word “astronaut,” which she found inappropriate as a beginning vocabulary word for her
EL students.
In addition, some case study teachers pointed out that EL students sometimes faced barriers in moving
within and between pages and items in a DLR, and that the steps and buttons required to access support
features could introduce additional complexity for them. For example, one teacher described a DLR that
included an embedded audio support for students to hear the text read aloud. The DLR required
students to click on a specific button to hear the word. The teacher commented that students had tonavigate down to a word, then back up to the button, and then back to the word again, repeating thesesteps many times. The teacher observed that the navigation seemed to become a task in itself for the
students. It caused her to wonder whether the students were able to concentrate on the words as they
did this.
Another teacher similarly expressed frustration that the navigation in some DLRs was so hard forstudents that it distracted them from their work and posed additional challenges for students who
might already struggle to complete tasks. As an example, she observed that when her students have to
move back and forth within a DLR for an activity, they have often found themselves accidentallynavigating out of the page they need. Finally, other teachers also mentioned that the different logins
and passwords required for DLRs became confusing for students.

59This page intentionally left blank.

Chapter V. Districts’ and Teachers’ Recommendations to
Improve the Usefulness of DLRs for Instructing EL Students
Districts and teachers 20 provided suggestions on how the use of DLRs could be improved to bettersupport EL students in learning language and content. Approximately 43 percent of districts and 52
percent of teachers provided one or more comments to express their views in response to an openended survey item, and case study teachers also offered suggestions for improvements. The
recommendations offered in these comments addressed four themes: DLR content, features of DLRs to
support EL students, features related to implementation, and professional development.

Recommendations Related to DLR Content
Provide more DLRs that engage EL students in working with core academic
content while supporting students in learning language and literacy.
Many study participants requested that educational technology developers provide DLRs thatincorporate support for learning language and literacy — and especially support for learning academic
language — within the context of core academic content. Districts in particular focused on the need for
EL students to work with DLRs that engaged them in the content they needed to learn. Comments
included:“There is a need for more programs which integrate content (concepts from social
studies, science, etc.) and language. I'd like to see content presented with simple
language and visuals until language skills develop. Most are focused on just literacy skills
alone - I'd like to see more resources to practice academic language.”“For effective language development instruction, students truly need authentic practicein using the new language in academic situations. It would be great if DLRs provided
students with opportunities to engage with complex text while being provided thelanguage learning support. Programs currently available do one or the other, yet arelimited in being able to provide both. Remediation of reading selections and isolated
language skill building seem to be the trends. For ELs, the focus on academic language
and language development must go hand-in-hand."

Provide DLRs with grade-level academic content appropriate to the needs of older
EL students and especially of newcomer students in the middle and high school
grade levels.
Several districts and teachers also requested that developers design DLRs that meet the needs of older
newcomer EL students in learning academic content. They noted that although newcomer students
20 Readers should note that the teacher survey sample was not nationally representative and the results based on the teacher

survey data should be interpreted with caution. See Chapter 1 and Appendix A for additional information about the teacher
sample selection.

61

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

often are beginners in learning English, they still need to meet academic content standards for middle orhigh school grade levels. In their view, the existing DLRs often do not fit the needs of such newcomers:“Too many programs have content for young kids rather than middle school to highschool. This ‘elementary’ type resource is embarrassing as a newcomer student.”

Design DLR resources to include multiple languages of EL students, broadening
the range of languages usually available.
Study participants noted that they would like to see a wider range of languages included in the DLR
resources (e.g., e-books or texts in students’ home languages) than are currently available. Several
noted that DLRs need to be responsive to the wide range of EL-student language groups that many
districts serve. For example, one respondent noted that she has a difficult time finding resources inlanguages such as Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi.

Provide a focus on language and literacy development for EL students that
includes all four domains of language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Respondents noted that DLRs should address all four language domains. In making thisrecommendation, some separately highlighted a need for DLRs to focus on writing. Others urged greater
emphasis on promoting oral language development.

Structure the DLR so that the content is adaptive or individualized for the EL
students.
District personnel were especially interested in adaptive or individualized content. However, many
districts and teachers requested design of DLRs to help in tailoring instruction to the individual needs of
EL students. These included requests for:••

DLRs that are adaptive in presenting content to students, i.e., adjusting the content to meetthe individual student’s level and progressing to new content according to the student’s
performance; andDLRs that provide resources for individualizing content, such as offering different levels of text
complexity for the same content.

Provide DLRs that promote active student collaboration in activities focused onacademic content.
Study respondents recommended that DLRs promote EL student collaboration and cooperation withother students. Some noted the value of DLR features that enable students to share and view eachother’s work. Others commented on the need for interactive activities to promote EL students’ use oflanguage about academic content with other students. These could include activities with a gameelement to engage students, sometimes drawing in students who might not participate in othercontexts. A district administrator recommended:
The technology would have to be very interactive in order for the students to actively
engage and participate with other students… They [EL students] need more interaction

62Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

with other students and high level or reading/vocabulary resources to reduce theachievement gap.

Recommendations Related to DLR Support Features
Many of the recommendations for the design of DLRs were to include specific features that theeducators felt could support EL students in accessing and understanding DLR content.

Provide visual and auditory support features to assist EL students inunderstanding and communicating new content and vocabulary.
Teachers and administrators indicated that in their view visual and auditory supports could assist EL
students in understanding and communicating academic content. Visual supports can be images,
photographs, or as one district administrator suggested, can be video definitions for words that may bedifficult to define through a single visual image. The educators noted that such visual supports might
assist EL students in understanding new terms and concepts.
Auditory supports mentioned included a text-to-speech feature. Such a feature can enable EL students
to hear a single word, a text selection, or to have instructions read aloud. Several district administratorsand teachers also suggested a record-and-replay feature that enables a student to record and thenlisten back to his or her voice. Some suggested that this feature is useful in that it allows EL students tolisten to and improve their own speech in English. Some also noted that a record-and-replay feature
could offer an alternative means for EL students to share or demonstrate their knowledge when they
are not yet proficient in writing. Educators also noted that DLRs can offer multiple, multi-modal supports
for their users. For example, a teacher suggested, “develop[ing] items with online dictionaries that workin multiple modalities (read the definition, hear how the word is pronounced, see a picture or video ofit).”

Provide an embedded translation function.
One teacher mentioned that, although her students could use a separate translation tool, a better
option is to have a translation capability embedded as part of a content area DLR so that the translation
given to the EL student provides the meaning most appropriate to the specific content the students arelearning.

Provide embedded support features in a wider range of EL students’ languages.
For example, several teachers recommended providing translation features within DLRs that support a
broader range of languages beyond those most commonly provided to better meet EL students’ needs.
The study team summarized the support features addressed in the recommendations and created apreliminary framework of support features. The Digital Support Features Matrix (Appendix E) identifies
support features in four categories:
1.

Visual-related supports: Visual images or other visual support designed to assist a student inunderstanding or communicating a concept or idea.

63Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

2.

Auditory-related supports: Speech or other use of sound designed to assist a student inunderstanding or communicating a concept or idea.

3.

Translation supports: Embedded functions designed to translate from one language to theother, in either speech or print and for either a word or limited text.

4.

Collaboration supports: Embedded functions designed to assist students to communicate,collaborate, work, or share information about academic content.

Recommendations Related to Implementation
Design DLRs that are easy to use, both for EL students and teachers.
Many teachers and districts focused on the importance of ease of use for EL students in navigating
within and using the features of a DLR. Several teachers suggested that the log-in process should befaster and directions should be simple to support student use. Teachers pointed out that navigating
within DLRs may be challenging for young students, for students with little experience with computers,
and for beginner-level EL students whose English proficiency limits their ability to understand DLR
directions. In general, teachers suggested making it easy for EL students to get into the core of the DLR
content or task, rather than requiring multiple logins and other navigational steps before they can begin
their actual work.
Several teachers and districts recommended that DLRs should be easy for teachers to use as well. For
example, one recommendation was to make it faster and easier for a teacher to quickly “roster” a classof students into a DLR (i.e., as part of setting up a DLR for use, entering in the students who will be using
the DLR). Another comment was that teachers could more easily work with a DLR if they had access toembedded general user support to guide them as users and offer instruction-related guidance, such as
how to facilitate students’ work within the DLR.
These examples offer insights into the earlier Chapter II findings on criteria in selecting DLRs. In thosefindings, 21 the majority of districts reported considering ease of use for teachers, almost all teachersconsidered how easily students could use the DLR, and most teachers reported considering how easily
they themselves could use the DLR.

Develop DLRs with age-appropriate interfaces, especially for older newcomer EL
students and for very young students.
As noted earlier in this chapter, many respondents recommended appropriate grade-level content for
older beginning level EL students. Several teachers had similar recommendations about the design of
DLRs — their appearance and structure. A case study teacher noted that the type of illustration selected
to visualize the meaning of a concept or new vocabulary word for a first or second grader can often be
too juvenile for a middle school or high school student. Another teacher commented on the nature of
the tasks given students:
21 See Chapter II, Exhibit 7, showing that 66 percent of districts reported that when selecting DLRs they considered it very

important that a DLR is easy for teachers to use; and see Exhibit 9, which presents the finding that 86 percent of teachersreported that whether a DLR is “easy for me to use” was very important for them in selecting DLRs.

64

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners“Activities for high school students should be available without appearing ‘pre-schoolish’
even when simple letters, numbers, words need to be taught.”
Some teachers noted that DLRs do not always take into account the learners’ developmental level. For
example, one teacher noted that DLRs for very young students should require use of only a mouse orother means more appropriate to the manual skills of young children, rather than requiring them to use
a keyboard. A case study teacher commented that the DLR fonts sometimes were too small for young
children.

Provide DLRs that are free or less costly and that take into consideration
limitations in funding.
DLR costs were a factor in many districts’ and teachers’ recommendations, and teachers often referred
to limitations in district or school funding for DLRs. This recommendation is consistent with survey
findings reported in Chapter IV that costs of purchasing DLRs and limited funds for DLRs were barriers. 22

Enable teachers to monitor and students to track their progress.
Both districts and teachers referred to features that enable teachers and students to monitor and track
students’ progress within a DLR. For example, a teacher commented:“All students lose interest quickly if they do not see the progress they are making.”

Recommendations Related to Professional Development and Training
Provide professional development and training for teachers on how to work with
DLRs in their classroom instruction of EL students.
Several of the districts referred to their teachers’ needs for professional development and training
related to using DLRs. A common theme among their recommendations was the need for training on
how to use DLRs effectively in the classroom. Some specifically pointed out that their recommendations
were directed toward educators and education policy-makers. Comments included:“[I have no recommendations] for the developer. Internal professional development
leaders within our district need to be able to coach teachers in a classroom setting toensure the materials are being used as they were intended, especially assessment pieces
for ELs.”“[Our district] requires professional development in this area, as [teachers] are not
implementing DLRs comprehensively across the district. An overview of effective DLRs
and how to best implement them in daily practice would be beneficial.”
22See Chapter IV, Exhibit 29, which presents the finding that 75 percent of districts reported that insufficient funds forpurchasing DLRs was a barrier to some extent or to a large extent to their use of DLRs; and see Exhibit 30, which shows that67 percent of teachers considered the costs of DLRs as a barrier to some extent or to a large extent to their use of DLRs in
instructing EL students.

65

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Some of the comments also referred to embedded professional development within DLRs as helpful:“[The DLR] resource should also offer on-demand professional development.”

Incorporate hands-on training and coaching.
Many of the teacher comments on how best to improve the usefulness of DLRs in instructing EL students
referred to their needs for professional development and support. Teachers emphasized their need forhands-on training so that they can more fully understand how to incorporate DLR use in instructing their
EL students. Comments included:“Many times when we have trainings, someone is talking the entire training. Most of us
need hands-on training.”“There needs to be adequate time given not just to learn, but to implement any DLR, or
anything else. Having a 30-minute or even a couple of hours of a lecture and someone
demonstrating how to do something isn't very effective. We need training on how to use
it and get to practice and discuss while the information is fresh.”

Structure professional development to focus on how to use DLRs to support EL
students within general education classes.
The survey findings showed that most teachers reported engaging EL students in instruction using atleast some general education DLRs. In the case study, several mainstream teachers described EL
students working with the same general education DLRs as other students in the class.
Recommendations pointed to teachers’ needs for guidance on using DLRs to support EL students’ ingeneral education classroom instruction. The recommendation applies both to educators andeducational technology developers. For example, an EL specialist stated:“Our administrators and technology support personnel are very good at finding andintegrating the newest technology with our general education students but there is little
to no support for our English learners. Teachers need to know not only what is out there
but how to use it for our ELs and how to use it within the classroom while also
addressing the 20+ other students in the room. Reaching our ELs without having to pullthem from the general education classroom is very important.”

Assist administrators and teachers to build awareness of the range of DLRs andhow to select DLRs appropriate to their EL students.
Among the requests for professional development, several teachers described a need to know more
about the range of DLRs available, how to select among them, and how to determine which are mostappropriate for their EL students. For example, some teachers requested guidance in becoming aware ofand selecting DLRs:“I would like to attend more professional development about the different types of DLRs
available to use with EL students instead of having to do a lot of online researching on
my own.”66

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

To assist administrators and teachers in considering the range of DLRs available, the study teamdeveloped and refined the Digital Learning Resources Matrix (Appendix E). The matrix defines the same
three categories of DLRs introduced earlier: digital academic content tools, digital productivity tools, anddigital communication tools. It outlines and offers some examples of the types of DLRs within each of
the categories. The matrix may be a useful resource for educators to consider the range of DLRs
available and to consider the differences and purposes among them.

Additional Areas of Support That Teachers Request
Teachers also responded to a survey item that asked about areas in which they would appreciate
additional support related to using DLRs with EL students. Half or more of the teachers indicated thatthey wanted additional professional development and support in several aspects of preparing to use
DLRs in instructing EL students, including planning, understanding the range of DLRs available, planningfor effective mixed use of DLRs with non-digital resources, and understanding criteria to use in selecting
DLRs for EL students (Exhibit 31). EL specialists were more likely to express a desire for planning foreffective mixed use of DLRs with non-digital resources (75 percent vs. 49 percent) (Exhibit C-20).
Exhibit 31. Percentage of teachers reporting areas in which they would appreciate more support
related to DLR use with EL students

Exhibit reads: Sixty-eight percent of teachers of EL students reported that they would appreciate more support inplanning instruction that uses DLRs effectively with EL students.
Source: Teacher survey, item 38 (n = 679 teachers).

67

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

First-year teachers were more likely than experienced teachers to indicate that they would appreciate
more support in planning instruction that uses DLRs effectively (96 percent vs. 66 percent). However,first-year teachers were less likely than experienced teachers to respond that they would like more
support in the area of planning for effective mixed use of DLRs and non-digital resources (30 percent vs.
55 percent) (Exhibit C-21). There were no statistical differences between teachers by grade level.

68Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

Chapter VI. Conclusion
This study sought to understand the use of DLRs in instructing EL students. The study asked districts andteachers to report how they identify the DLRs they use with EL students, the types of DLRs used andwhat they perceive as supports for and barriers to using DLRs with EL students. The study also elicited
perspectives on how educational technology developers and educators might improve the usefulness of
DLRs for instructing EL students.
District and teacher survey responses indicated widespread use of DLRs in school year 2016–17. Most
districts reported placing a high priority on using DLRs and most teachers reported that they used DLRs
in instructing their EL students. Both districts and teachers reported using a number of sources for
identifying DLRs. Almost all districts reported that they used teacher requests or recommendations assources for identifying DLRs for EL students and almost all teachers reported that they obtained
recommendations from their fellow teachers, sometimes seeking out those they viewed as technology
leaders in their school or district. However, many teachers — EL specialists in particular — reported
receiving 10 or fewer hours of professional development related to DLR use over the three-year periodof 2014–15 to 2016–17. Teachers requested additional professional development, including hands-on
guidance and support in using DLRs and in using DLRs for instructing EL students specifically.
Districts and teachers reported using multiple types of DLRs, and the majority of teachers reported daily
DLR use. Almost all teachers who reported using DLRs in instructing their EL students reported that atleast some of those DLRs were designed for general education students. In case study interviews, someteachers commented that the general education DLRs they used sometimes included embedded
supports, such as visual supports and translation features, that they felt could help their EL students tounderstand the DLR content and tasks. Districts and teachers recommended that DLRs be designed toinclude more supports for EL students to help them to engage in academic content and work with theirpeers while building language and literacy skills.
Districts and teachers reported a range of barriers to DLR use for EL students, with student lack of accessto DLRs at home being the most commonly reported barrier. Districts also pointed to lack of funding for
DLRs, teachers’ need for expertise in instructing EL students, teachers’ level of technology skills, and lackof knowledge of DLRs for EL students. Key barriers reported by teachers included time needed to set up
and to learn DLRs, DLR costs, and the lack of knowledge of available DLRs and how to choose among
them. The need for greater access to technology equipment was also a theme that emerged in openended comments in the survey and in case study interviews.
Study respondents offered suggestions on steps to improve DLRs and their use for instructing EL
students. Their recommendations for educational technology developers addressed the content of DLRs,
the types of embedded supports, and DLR design to improve implementation, such as ease of use, anddesigns appropriate to the ages and experience of the EL students. Recommendations for districtleaders were to provide more access to DLRs and more opportunities to learn about DLRs and theirinstructional use with EL students — especially for use with EL students in general education settings.
Further research is needed to understand the efficacy of these recommendations and of practices inusing DLRs when instructing EL students—including EL students with disabilities and their requirements
for accessibility. The findings of such research could inform guidance for educators in selecting and using
DLRs to better support learning for all EL students, as well as for students overall in grades K–12.

69

This page intentionally left blank.

Supporting English Learners through Technology: What Districts andTeachers Say about Digital Learning Resources for English Learners

References
Batalova, Jeanne and Margie McHugh. 2010. Number and growth of students in US Schools in need ofEnglish instruction. ELL Information Center Fact Sheet Series. Migration Policy Institute (MPI):
National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy: Washington, DC. Retrieved fromhttps://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/number-and-growth-students-us-schools-needenglish-instruction-2009
Capps, Randolph, Michael Fix, Julie Murray, Jason Ost, Jeffrey Passel, and Shinta Herwantoro Hernandez.
2005. The new demography of America's schools: Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act.
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Gray, Lucinda, Nina Thomas, and Laurie Lewis. 2010a. Educational Technology in U.S. Public Schools: Fall2008 (NCES 2010–034). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Gray, Lucinda, Nina Thomas, and Laurie Lewis. 2010b. Teachers’ Use of Educational Technology in
U.S. Public Schools: 2009 (NCES 2010-040). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.
2018. The Condition of Education 2018. Retrieved fromhttps://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgf.asp
U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). 2017a. Profiles of English
learners (ELs). Fast Facts, Author: Washington, DC. Retrieved fromhttps://ncela.ed.gov/files/fast_facts/05-19-2017/ProfilesOfELs_FastFacts.pdf
U.S. Department of Education, OELA. 2011. The growing numbers of English learner students: 2009–10.
Author: Washington, DC. Retrieved fromhttps://ncela.ed.gov/files/uploads/9/growing_EL_0910.pdf
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. 2017b. Reimagining the Role ofTechnology in Education: 2017 National Education Technology Plan Update. Washington, D.C.,
2017.
Zehler, Annette M., Yesim Yilmazel-Sahin, Lindsey Massoud, Sarah C. Moore, Chengbin Yin, andKathryn Kramer. 2012, June. The implementation of technology for instruction of English learner
students. Poster report presented at the meeting of the International Society for Technology in
Education (ISTE), June 25, San Diego, CA.
Zehler, Annette M., Carolyn Adger, Cate Coburn, Igone Arteagoitia, Krystal Williams, and Louis Jacobson.
2008. Preparing to serve English language learner students: School districts with emerging
English language learner communities (Issues and Answers Report, REL 2008-No. 049).
Washington, DC: Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia, National Center for Education
Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of
Education.

71

The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation
for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
www.ed.gov