Presented by: Kirsten Kollgaard, Mary Desimone and Tyler Ramey

Target Audience: ML/EL teachers and other educators who support multilingual learners, including administrators who oversee ML/EL teachers, school counselors (particularly high school counselors who are dealing with placement, transcripts, college applications, etc.), mainstream classroom teachers and content area teachers, department chairs and content leads, multilingual liaisons and behavior interventionists who are addressing students with trauma related to the refugee/asylum seeking process.

Multilingual Students, including those with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE), require tailored instructional strategies grounded in research. This PD program combines cutting-edge studies with real-world applications to help educators improve newcomer multilingual students, including SLIFE, outcomes while fostering shared responsibility across teams.

Participants will develop a strong knowledge base about how to develop systems and programming that supports all aspects of their students’ complex linguistic and academic lives. In addition to looking at systems and programming, all educators will learn about instructional best practices for working with ML students, including those from SLIFE backgrounds, at all grade levels. Individual ML/EL teachers and the teams who support them will develop action plans for moving forward with supporting MLs in their district and sharing the knowledge they’ve gained with other staff in their schools.

Why Participate?

Research-Driven Best Practices: Learn evidence-based frameworks that guide SLIFE instruction.
Cross-Team Collaboration: Strengthen alignment between administrators, EL teachers, SpEd teachers, and classroom educators.
Sustainable Impact: Build long-term strategies that ensure SLIFE success beyond compliance requirements.

Institute Days

Day 1: Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 (9am-3:30pm, includes breakfast & lunch)

Supporting Multilingual Students Including those from SLIFE Backgrounds: Building Systems of Support

Participants will learn about who SLIFE students are and what the research says they need from schools to flourish. This day will focus on all the aspects of a strong ML program that supports the various needs of newcomer SLIFE students. District and school teams will have dedicated time to collaborate. In addition, individual ML teachers will build a community of practice. Participants will also join breakout groups based on their job roles to exchange insights and learn from educators in other districts.

Day 1 Topics will Include:

Intake/Screening/Placement Processes
SLIFE Identification
Trauma-Informed Practices & Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
Cultural Competency & Culture Shock
Culturally Responsive & Asset-Based Approaches
Family & Community Engagement

Day 2: Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 (9am-3:30pm, includes breakfast & lunch)

Teaching Multilingual Students including those from SLIFE Backgrounds: Practical Instructional Strategies for MLs at All Grade Levels

Participants will learn about best practices for instructing SLIFE students in the mainstream classroom. Teams will review different research based collaboration models and tools and consider how they can enhance their collaborative practice.

Day 2 Topics will Include:

Oral Language Development & Literacy Foundations
Differentiating Content Instruction for SLIFE
Collaboration & Co-Planning for SLIFE Support
Academic Language & Writing for SLIFE
The First Days & Weeks with your Newcomer

Cohort Participation

These are monthly asynchronous 1 hr. modules followed by 45 minute live/virtual follow-up with the presenters a few weeks later. The live session will be recorded for those who need to watch it at a different time.

Follow-Up Virtual Sessions: Each live session is 3:00 – 3:45 pm

Module 1: Nov. 4, 2025: The First Days & Weeks with your Newcomer: A Deeper Dive

Supporting your newcomer students as they arrive at your school
Action item: Develop a plan & toolkit of go to resources for newcomers of different grade levels

Module 2: Dec. 9, 2025: Oral Language Development Foundations

Building oral proficiency alongside literacy
Action item: Implement a structured oral language routine in your teaching

Module 3: Jan. 6, 2026: Differentiating Content Instruction for SLIFE

Strategies for making grade-level content accessible
Action item: Modify a lesson using provided scaffolds

Module 4: Feb. 10, 2026: Monitoring Progress

Using data to guide support & advocating for resources
Action item: Develop a progress monitoring plan and tool

Module 5: Mar. 10, 2026: SLIFE & Special Education: Navigating Intersectionality

Avoiding misidentification and supporting dual needs
Action item: Develop a plan to share resources with special educators at your school

Module 6: Apr. 7, 2026: Advocating for SLIFE

Using data & developing skills to advocate for resources for SLIFE
Action item: Develop an advocacy strategy for your students

Closing Session: Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 (9am-3:30pm, includes breakfast & lunch)

Putting it All Together: In this cumulative session, full school/district teams will put together all of their knowledge about how to support multilingual learners from SLIFE backgrounds. They will complete an action plan with steps they may have already taken throughout the year and ones they still need to take to develop a quality, research based program for MLs. This session will include planning for next steps and how to continue the work moving forward.

Institutes:

October 21st, 2025 (opening)

October 22nd, 2025 (opening)

May 12th, 2026 (closing)

Virtual Follow-up Sessions: November 4th, 2025, December 9th, 2025, January 6th, 2026, February 10th, 2026, March 10th, 2026, April 7th, 2026

Cost:

CVEDC Members: Institute, 3 days-$750 Full Year Series-$1,250

Non- Members: Institute, 3 days-$850 Full Year Series-$1,400

Location: Hampton Inn and conference Center, Colchester

Building Quality Programming for Multilingual Learners