Secondary Biology Textbooks and National Standards for English Learners

Abstract

Given secondary teachers’ dependence on textbooks for curricular and instructional guidance, the challenges introduced by increasingly diverse classrooms in the United States, and national efforts to provide equitable access to science for all students, this study examined the alignment between three popular high school biology textbooks and the tenets of four national standards. The standards, Benchmarks for Science Literacy (the national science content standards when the textbooks were published), The CREDE Five Standards for Effective Pedagogy and Learning, World‐Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) English Language Proficiency Standards, and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study Standards (TIMSS), were chosen as representative of nationally accepted ways of meeting the discipline‐specific content, pedagogical, linguistic, and cognitive needs of English learners (ELs). Descriptive content analysis revealed that the instructional helps (textual tools) found in all three textbooks had some level of alignment with all four standards. However, not all chapters or instructional units included explicit recommendations for teaching ELs, and the overall alignment ranged from low to moderate across textbooks. Equally concerning was that many important instructional recommendations from the standards, particularly those designed to develop and challenge student thinking, were implicit or completely absent. Implications for textbook publishers, textbook adoption committees, teachers, and teacher educators are discussed.

Mitigating the effect of language in the assessment of science: A study of English‐language learners in primary classrooms in the United Kingdom

“…These alternatives aim to allow students to complete tasks via a varied range of performance methods (demonstration, discussion, modeling, reasoning, and drawing); with a wide range of language skills (speaking, reading, listening, and writing) in highly contextualized settings (laboratory experiment); and collaboratively rather than individually. It has been suggested that such formative alternative approaches allow both ELL and ENS students to perform better (Rivard, ; Shaw, Bunch, & Geaney, ; Smith, Hanks, & Erickson, ) by providing a broader range of knowledge‐demonstration channels to display knowledge and topic‐specific expertize. August and Hakuta () and Lyon et al () however warn that while some modes of performance assessment may be beneficial to some groups of learners, they may pose additional difficulties to others.…”

Examples, Illustrations & Evidence: Research Written to Guide and Inform Readers

“…Methodologies can become more accessible via illustrative examples. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sce.21265/abstract () examined of high school textbooks for their alignment with multiple published standards for accommodating English learners. It might appear daunting to unpack textbook content for its overlaps with WIDA, TIMSS, CREDE, and Project 2061 Benchmarks.…”