Over the first half of 2021, SupportEd has partnered with districts across North America as they transition back to in-person instruction. We helped navigate the implementation of programs to support English Learners (ELs) and Multilingual Learners (MLs) as part of the American Recovery Plan. Here, we’ll share how we’ve been providing three types of online courses, virtual professional development, and technical assistance to districts, states, and organizations across North America.

–

Self-Paced On-Demand Courses

Our four on-demand courses are self-paced, asynchronous, and available year-round for participants to sign up at their convenience. Each on-demand course provides a certificate for one hour of professional development (PD) upon completion.

We’re providing these courses for the following organizations and districts:

• Questar III BOCES, New York. Educators from Questar are enrolled in Formative Assessment for English Learners and Program Development Strategies for SLIFE and LTELs.
• OCM BOCES, New York. Educators from OCM BOCES are currently participating in our Formative Assessment for English Learners on-demand course.
• Reading School District, Pennsylvania. We facilitated a customized version of our Formative Assessment for English Learners on-demand course to train paraprofessionals on the topic of formative assessment.
  –

Customized On-Demand Courses 

We are currently facilitating a customized on-demand five-hour course to train 1,000 teachers in instructing ELs in concurrent and hybrid learning models in the following districts and organizations:

• Alexandria County Public Schools, VA
• Delaware County Intermediate Unit, PA

–

On-Demand Book Studies

Our three fully self-paced 20-hour online book studies are framed around bestselling books authored by members of the SupportEd team–Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners, Unlocking English Learners’ Potential, and Advocating for English Learners.

• Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners Book Study. Several districts have enrolled groups of educators in our new Culturally Responsive Teaching book study. These districts and organizations include:
  –
  • Burlington School District, VT 
  • Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, IN 
  • Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, KS
  • Manassas City Public Schools, VA
  • Mid-West RBERN, NY
  • Questar III BOCES, NY
  • Syracuse City Public Schools, NY
  • Williston Public School District, ND

–

Facilitated Online Courses

Upcoming 12-Hour Facilitated Online Courses (June 28 – August 9, 2021) 

➤  Register by June 28 to Join Our Summer 2021 Session. Click Here to Learn More.

This summer, we are pleased to offer five 12-hour online courses. All 12-hour online courses are go-at-your-own-pace with intermediary deadlines, and each course provides a certificate for 12 hours of PD upon completion. So far, Battle Grounds Public Schools in Washington and NE Ohio Achieve NPD grant recipients have enrolled multiple teachers along with educators from several other school districts who have self-enrolled.

–

Virtual Professional Development 

• Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. In March, we facilitated a three-hour synchronous virtual PD session on scaffolding content for ELs.
• OCM BOCES, New York. During the Spring and Summer of 2021, we provided a series of four podcasts on EL-related topics. We facilitated two virtual PD sessions focused on strategies for supporting ELs and culturally responsive teaching, as well as two webinars for educators of ELs.
• Questar III BOCES, New York. During the 2020-2021 school year, we hosted a series of half-day virtual PD sessions focused on formative assessment for ELs, academic language for ELs, oral language development for ELs, scaffolding content for ELs in distance learning and hybrid settings, and culturally responsive teaching.
• St. Peter’s School, Pennsylvania. In April, we facilitated a series of three one-hour synchronous virtual PD sessions focused on scaffolding content for ELs, academic language for ELs, and culturally responsive teaching.
• New York State Language RBERN. In May and June, we provided two one-hour webinars on culturally responsive teaching. We also provided seven three-hour PD in-depth sessions on the topic for each of the RBERN regions in New York State. 

–

Ongoing Technical Assistance Projects

• Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland. In June, we finished two years of support with one cohort of seven elementary schools and completed the first year of a two-year project with a second cohort of seven elementary schools. This included PD tailored to the needs of each cohort, coaching, and opportunities for informal conversation between teachers, administrators, and the SupportEd team. We look forward to continuing our partnership with MCPS in the upcoming school year and will begin the same process with two new cohorts, one with an elementary school and middle school, and one with a high school.
• SWBOCES, New York. We are providing career and technical education (CTE) curriculum development and coaching to support ELs in CTE programs. As part of this project, we developed a scaffolding framework to support instructors in differentiating instruction and fostering English language development for ELs. We developed models of scaffolds for each program based on their instructional material, and we held virtual feedback meetings with instructors to ensure scaffolds provided were meaningful and met students’ instructional needs. In the upcoming school year, we will be supporting instructors in implementing the scaffolds provided and developing their own scaffolded content.
• Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky. We are providing consultative services and technical assistance through meetings and mentoring, reviewing current programs and professional development offerings, and developing recommendations to support JCPS goals and promote ELs’ academic success. We are also supporting the development and delivery of a districtwide World Languages Professional Development Plan to support achievement of the JCPS World Languages objectives.
• Reading School District, Pennsylvania. This year, we virtually coached 7^th and 8^th grade teachers at five Reading middle schools to support the instruction of ELs in the content classroom. We focused on priority areas such as oral language development, student engagement, academic language instruction, and comprehensible input. Each coaching cycle included a pre-visit planning meeting, observation, and post-visit debrief meeting. Next year, we plan to continue this project by collaborating with 5^th and 6^th grade teachers.

–

Conferences and Presentations

• Klein Independent School District, Texas. In June, Diane Staehr Fenner will keynote at Klein ISD’s Virtual Equity Conference, focusing on advocating for culturally responsive teaching for MLs. Following the keynote, our team will facilitate three breakout sessions related to taking an assets-based approach with MLs and culturally responsive teaching for MLs.
• Dallas Independent School District, Texas. In June, we will facilitate two sessions on Unlocking English Learners’ Potential through academic discussions and formative assessment.
• Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), Georgia. In July, Diane Staehr Fenner and Sydney Snyder will provide two one-hour virtual presentations to kick off the new GCPS ESOL Instructional Framework.
• South Carolina Multilingual Education Kickoff. In July, we will facilitate two virtual sessions at the South Carolina Multilingual Education Kickoff. One session will focus on supporting MLs in academic conversations and the other will focus on social emotional learning for MLs.