How can we help colleagues, families and community members become advocates for dual language programs? What does it mean to truly embrace biliteracy? Why is embracing bilingualism good for all students?

We discuss these questions and more in part 2 of a 2 part series with Sandra Medrano-Arroyo.

Sandra Medrano-Arroyo presently works at Ellevation Education as the Dual Language Instructional Content Specialist, where she has spearheaded the creation of two new instructional practices specific to the needs of Dual Language programs.  In over 23 years in education, she has served the needs of emergent bilinguals and various sub-groups in a number of roles: teacher, academic coordinator, school director, recruiter, instructional specialist, and program planner. Prior to Ellevation, Sandra served as the Manager of Multicultural Education for the 11th largest school district in the US, overseeing the ESOL program for over 34,000 students, including a two-way dual language program that served over 9,000 students. Since 2016, she has also served as a PD Consultant for the National Association for Bilingual Education.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Sandra has a natural ability to bridge the gap between research and practice by breaking down concepts and findings into bite-sized pieces that educators can use right away, which is one of the many reasons I am happy to have her as colleague at Ellevation and an advocate in the field of multilingual education. As always, thanks for listening to Highest Aspirations - I hope you enjoy part 1 of our informative conversation.

If you have an idea for a topic or guest for a future highest aspirations episode, please feel free to reach out at [email protected].

You can find additional resources and episode takeaways on our ELL Community page at ellevationeducation.com/ellcommunity. If you haven’t done so already, we invite you to join our ELL Community while you’re there so you get weekly resources, strategies and tips from that you can use right away.