Leading Multilingual Learning

This week's guest is the incredible educator, author and speaker Andrea Bitner. A true champion for kids, Bitner has 26 years of experience in public education. In her career she has instructed K–12 students from around the world, and today she serves as an English Language Learner educator in Philadelphia. She is the author of two books sharing powerful stories about EL students and educators: Take Me Home and When Niagara Falls. Andrea also co-authored The Impact of Influence – Volume 3: 100 No-Nonsense Things ALL School Leaders Should STOP Doing, and contributed to Culture First Classrooms and other works by Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld. Recognized by the state of Pennsylvania for her innovative teaching, she was featured in Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA)'s The Voice for her work with EL learners. A true dynamo in the space, she tirelessly provides a free newsletter to thousands of educators across the country each week, filled with tips, tricks, and resources for their teaching toolboxes.

Our guest Dr. Merica Clinkenbeard serves as President of the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators and as Secretary for MidTESOL. She is the Director of English Language Development for Springfield Public Schools in Missouri, where she leads district initiatives focused on instructional quality, compliance, and professional learning to support multilingual learners. With more than 25 years of experience in education at the local and state levels, she is a certified K-12 Spanish and TESOL educator whose work centers on strengthening professional learning systems that promote language development within content instruction.

A link to the Seven Steps framework reference in this episode can be found here.

Her colleague Megan Fernando has dedicated more than two decades to Taunton Public Schools and currently serves as the Instructional Coach at Martin Middle School. Born and raised in Taunton to Portuguese immigrant parents, she is a first‑generation American with deep roots in the community she now supports. Throughout her career in Taunton, Megan has served as a 4th, 5th, and 6th grade teacher, a math coach, and now an instructional coach, a role that allows her to support educators, strengthen instructional systems, and advocate for all students.

Today's guest Okhee Lee is a professor and Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. She is a committed research, policy, and practice advocate who promotes STEM and language learning for all students, particularly multilingual learners. Lee was a member of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) writing team and served as leader for the NGSS Diversity and Equity Team. She also was a member of the Steering Committee for the Understanding Language Initiative at Stanford University. Her important work involves integrating science, language, and computational thinking with a focus on multilingual learners.

Today's guest is a monumental figure in the world of multilingual standards and assessment. Dr. Margo Gottlieb is an inaugural inductee in the Multilingual Education Hall of Fame, a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Chile and holds a PhD in Public Policy Analysis. Dr. Gottlieb has over 125 publications and has authored or co-authored 25 books, including seven bestsellers. Perhaps most impactfully, she co-founded WIDA and was instrumental in developing the first published edition of their English language development standards.

Dr. Tim Boals is one of the most important voices in multilingual education. He is the founder of WIDA, a preeminent educational organization supporting K-12 multilingual learners through research-based language development language, development standards and professional resources.

Kathy Escamilla is one of America's foundational voices in multilingual education. A professor emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder, she helped define the concept of the Bilingual Continuum, reshaping how educators understand language development in multilingual learners. She is best known for her work across the field of biliteracy development. In her decades-long career she has deeply influenced how schools nationwide approach both instruction and assessment, and has pushed the field into asset-based practices that build on students' full linguistic repertoires.