Supportive classrooms for Latino English language learners: Grit, ELL status, and the classroom context

ABSTRACT

Students' academic achievement is the result of the interplay between person-level and contextual factors (R. R: Greene, 2014; D. E. Hunt, 1975). Students perform better when classroom characteristics support their characteristics. The authors examine whether student perceptions of two classroom characteristics (care and control) fit with two Latino student characteristics (English language learner status and grit) in relation to their academic achievement. Using a sample of fourth- and fifth-grade Latino students from the Measures of Effective Teaching dataset (n = 3,272), the authors conducted a series of nested regression models with two- and three-way interactions between student characteristics and student perceptions of classroom characteristics. Findings revealed that grit is most strongly associated with Latino English language learners’ English/language arts achievement when students perceived that teachers used high levels of care and control. We conclude with implications for practitioners.

KEYWORDS:

• English language learners
• grit
• Latino students
• Measures of Effective Teaching dataset
• upper elementary

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Drs. Sara Rimm-Kaufman, Lia Sandilos, and the Social Development Lab at the University of Virginia for their feedback on earlier drafts of this article.

Funding

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through grant #R305B140026 to the Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.