Bridging Professional Development and Context: Integrating Mathematics and Academic Language in a District Facing Takeover

This quasi-experimental, multi-phase study uses mixed methods to evaluate a professional development initiative focused on integrating mathematics and academic language. The context is a highly diverse urban district facing state takeover. The professional development focused on the understanding of key mathematics concepts and developing content-specific academic language. It linked explicitly to district-adopted texts and prescribed lesson formats. Teachers perceived the strategies to be feasible and beneficial to student learning, and had high rates of implementation. Nonetheless, pacing guides pressuring teachers to quickly cover content pose challenges for continued implementation. Implications for (1) professional development focusing on integrating subject-matter content and academic language, (2) assessment and accountability policies, and (3) districts’ responses (e.g., strict pacing guides) to these policies are raised