“NO ONE KNOWS WHO I AM”: What School Leaders Can Learn from ESL Teachers’ Voices

Studies have indicated that English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers face many challenges in meeting the needs ofemergent bilinguals (EBs). Yet, little scholarship has addressed what actions school leaders can take to resolve teachers’concerns. Through the voices of five ESL teachers from a district with a high number of EBs, this case study moves beyondlisting the challenges ESL teachers face to discussing actions school leaders can take to address the needs of ESL teachers.More specifically, the participants describe a lack of leadership in promoting collaborations between teachers, ineffectiveimplementation of a push-in model, and issues of time and assessment policy. Suggestions of actions includecollaborative leadership with ESL teachers, distributing teaching of EBs a core responsibility for all teachers, valuingmulticulturalism and multilingualism, and thinking beyond standardized testing.