Abstract

Educators in the United States and around the world are struggling to meet the diverse needs of Middle-Eastern Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE). This study applied the social-constructivist framework to design professional development modules in early literacy and English language development in US. high school classrooms. Two focal research questions were investigated: how effective is the use of the social-constructivist framework in the design of a professional development model, and what are teachers’ perceptions of the model and its perceived benefits to SIFE. The results of the STAT research survey revealed that utilizing the social-constructivist framework to design teacher professional development led to enhanced teacher skills, increased knowledge and the academic growth of SIFE in literacy and language. This research is especially timely, given the urgent need to support SIFE academically in high schools and for college and career readiness. The data corroborate that the social-constructivist framework in the design of teacher professional development provides a viable and replicable model with positive implications for teaching early literacy and English language development to high school SIFE.