How Administrators Can Prioritize Serving Multilingual Learners this School Year
Download the FREE printable guide: Framework for Prioritizing Multilingual Learner Support this School Year
For those of us in the field of education, August can hit us with a mix of emotions. On one hand, we’ve finally gotten into the more relaxed routine of summer, enjoying a second cup of coffee, spending more time with family and friends, and maybe even reading a few books for pleasure. On the other hand, the excitement and anticipation of a new school year starts to build too. We begin envisioning freshly decorated classrooms, new school supplies, and most importantly, hallways crowded with eager students.
Looking Back at Trends in Education: 2021-2025
This time period likely felt a little different for many, especially for administrators and teachers. Along with the excitement and anticipation, there may have also been some anxiety and uncertainty. We know that these years were harder than expected for everyone, and even as most schools were back in person, school didn’t always look or sound like the school we were used to and comfortable with pre-pandemic. Schools struggled with unexpectedly high rates of students absenteeism, staff and substitute shortages, and the pressure of managing so-called “learning loss.” For many schools, this new reality resulted in a shift in priorities and a greater focus on day-to-day goals rather than broader academic achievements. For multilingual learners (MLs), often these disruptions meant less opportunity for English language development, potentially less time with a certified ESL teacher, and more time in content classes for which they may not have been well-prepared.
Anticipating Changes in Education: Impacts on Multilingual Learners
As we step into the 2025–2026 school year, increased uncertainty around federal funding and shifting priorities at the state level require educators to be intentional with how they plan to support multilingual education. Districts around the country have had to develop contingency plans to mitigate the impact to programs caused by the delayed release of Title III funds. The future of this funding source remains in question as the proposed 2026 fiscal year budget for the Department of Education advocates for the elimination of these funds entirely.
Meanwhile, there is positive news as over 100 pieces of legislation were passed across states in 2024 aimed at boosting career and technical education (CTE). A major theme in these laws is a push to increase access to CTE for multilingual learner populations. This shift is aligned with SupportEd’s advocacy and work guiding best instructional practices for multilingual learners in CTE programs.
Prioritizing Your Goals for the New School Year
Given the uncertainty around education nationally the beginning of the school year is the ideal time to be clear about goals and expectations for the instruction of MLs at your school or in your district. While we often look at the beginning of the school year as an opportunity for a fresh start, we encourage you to begin the year by acknowledging (probably yet again) all the hard work your staff and students put in last year. Take some time to reflect on what did go well last year and make plans to build on those successes, great and small, for the upcoming year to support equity for MLs.
Framework for Prioritizing Multilingual Learner Support this School Year
Below is a framework for your reflection and academic year goal setting using the five guiding principles from our book Unlocking Multilingual Learners’ Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible. These guiding principles, grounded in research and practice, serve as a foundation for our work with educators of MLs. We suggest a straightforward three-step process to use this framework:
Step 1: Use the framework and accompanying reflection questions in the table below to highlight successes in ML education you saw during the 2024-25 school year.
Step 2: Consider how you can build on your successes as you plan for the upcoming year.
Step 3: Set a goal grounded in each guiding principle and determine your success criteria.
Conclusion
We learned last year to expect the unexpected. Using our guiding principles to approach your work to ensure equity for MLs will help you and your entire school community set a strengths-based tone and be intentional about supporting MLs. We encourage you to use and share this tool with your colleagues, revisit it periodically throughout the year, and let us know what you discover along the way. We wish you a successful beginning to the new school year.
About SupportEd
SupportEd, LLC is a woman-owned small business based in Fairfax, VA specializing in Multilingual Learners (MLs). Founded in 2011 by Dr. Diane Staehr Fenner, best-selling author and ML expert, SupportEd meticulously crafts customized solutions to fit each client’s strengths, needs, and provides teachers and administrators the practical tools necessary to champion MLs’ success within and beyond the classroom. All SupportEd team members have prior experience in the classroom which enables the SupportEd team to provide realistic, actionable solutions. Services include online and in-person immersive professional development workshops, easy-to-implement tools and resources, and an array of supporting services. Visit supported.com or call (202) 660-1444 to learn more.
