A study of a teacher study group focused on making math content accessible to English Language Learners with and without disabilities

The mathematics performance of students who are English Language Learners (ELL), with and without disabilities, is poor. Frequently teachers are not prepared in all of the critical areas that support the learning of these students including math content, second language acquisition and special education. One reform oriented professional development model for addressing the need for shared knowledge and understanding of the instructional needs of these students is teacher study groups which support collaboration among teachers with diverse certification backgrounds.;This study will examine the experience of one teacher study group as they worked to sustain a model of professional development, the Addressing Accessibility in Middle School Mathematics (AAMSM) in the year following the project. The two-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, had provided professional development and support to teacher study groups as they developed instructional accommodations for students in their classrooms. In this qualitative case study, data were collected through study group observations and individual teacher interviews and were used to address the following research questions: (1) What happened as the group tried to launch and sustain the work of the AAMSM project? (2) To what extent did the group continue conversations important to the model? What did the study group talk about? What did they not talk about? and (3) What themes or other issues were prominent in the collaborative study group?;It was expected that the results would reveal information on the AAMSM model and the collaborative process of planning accommodations for students who are ELL and ELL with disabilities learning mathematics. Instead, the results demonstrated the difficulty of sustaining professional development. There was little formal support for the implementation of the AAMSM. Additionally, teachers faced numerous barriers to implementation including unprotected time for meeting, curricular changes, inadequate support materials, and district assessment demands and initiatives. These factors detracted from the study group's focus and work. What we learn from this case study is (a) the aspects of the AAMSM model that are critical to its success and (b) the challenges teachers face in sustaining effective professional development models to support their instruction of all students.