Virtual Mentoring and Coaching Through Virtual Professional Learning Communities and Reflection: Building Instructional Capacity of School Leaders to Impact Bilingual and English Learners

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of virtual mentoring and coaching (VMC) on developing school leaders’ instructional capacity through the Component 3 of Project Accelerated Preparation of Leaders for Underserved Schools (A-PLUS): Building Instructional Capacity to Impact Diverse Learners, SEED Grant Award#U423A170053) and to determine how school leaders perceive the effectiveness of the Reflection Cycle model while being engaged in virtual professional learning communities (VPLC). In the first journal article, I focused on the process of VMC for school leaders and thematically analyzed the process of VMC across different studies and its implications in bilingual/ESL education. In the second journal article, I examined how reflection helped the school leaders in underserved schools build their instructional capacity to impact diverse bilingual and English learners (ELs). To this end, I collected the data through participants’ reflections via recordings of online discussions within virtual professional learning communities (VPLC) and portfolios related to the professional development (PD). The constant comparative method of the data led to the emergence of cycles of learning to build the school leaders’ instructional capacity to improve instruction for bilingual/ELs and economically challenged students (ECs). The participants’ portfolios revealed an increased awareness toward instructional leadership and decision-making as informed by the practicing school leaders’ reflections. The participants’ reflections also indicated cycles of change evolving from reflection. Further analysis of the data revealed the emergence of major themes guiding school leaders’ transformation of their leadership, anchored by their professional learning. Our findings have implications for encouraging reflection among prospective school leaders to accelerate preparation of leaders for underserved schools with high concentration of bilingual/ELs and ECs. In the third journal article, I examined the effectiveness of the VPLC from the perspective of school leaders as it relates to the Professional Development (PD) component of the project A-PLUS to impact diverse learners. I found that the practicing school leaders were positive toward the VPLC in terms of: (a) increasing convenience and professional networking, (b) supporting community building and critical reflection among school leaders, and (c) providing resources for future use. The VPLC can be regarded as a gateway to increasing scalability of quality PD programs for school leaders serving underserved schools across the states. I conclude with implications for research and practice in bilingual/ESL education.