Finding Your Guac' Squad: Navigating Co-Teaching Dynamics Between Secondary Core Content and English Language Learning Teachers

Many U.S. schools have explored English Language Learning (ELL)-based co-teaching instruction as a culturally and linguistically relevant practice when serving bilingual or multilingual English Learners (ELs). Yet, research has indicated that the core content (CC) and ELL co-teachers within this co-teaching dynamic have different experiences when implementing it in classrooms due to experiences with incomplete understandings and use of ELL-based co-teaching. This study considers the experiences of the CC and ELL co-teachers in SCHS, a rural-adjacent Virginia high school. While SCHS increased the use of ELL-based co-teaching and professional learning opportunities (PLO) as part of its instructional reframing to support ELs, the feedback from the co-teachers alludes to incomplete support, incomplete understanding, and incomplete use of ELL-based co-teaching. The study uses transformative learning theory and change theory to conduct a four-month exploratory comparative case study around a small sampling of CC and ELL co-teachers’ partnership experiences when implementing ELL-based co-teaching. A combination of questionnaires, a focus group interview, and document analyses generated data that explores the ELL-based co-teachers’ experiences with learning and implementing co-teaching after participating in co-teaching-based PLOs. This research illuminates support, change, and improvement within the ELL-based co-teaching partnership experience. Recommendations suggest providing content-area support to co-teachers when working on co-reflection within the collaborative instructional cycle (CIC) in PLOs, giving intentional support for teachers who are novice to ELL-based co-teaching, and inviting co-teaching reflection from peers and students on the quality of the ELL-based co-teaching partnerships.