Breakout Sessions

Session I Title: Data-Informed Action: Implementing High-Impact Practices to Support Latino and English Language Learners.

Description: This session provides educators and administrators with a clear, actionable roadmap for significantly bridging the opportunity and achievement gap for Latino students and English Language Learners (ELLs). We will move beyond general aspirations to focus on data-informed, high-impact literacy strategies—practices that have a demonstrated effect on academic language acquisition, content comprehension, and test readiness.

Session 2 Title: Bridges to Belonging: Transforming Systems for ELL Newcomers

Description: With Illinois school districts experiencing a nearly 10% increase in ELL newcomer populations, educational leaders are facing a critical "problem of practice": moving beyond a "knapsack full of good intentions" to create systemic reform that meets the unique needs of foreign-born students. This 40-minute "Dissertation in Practice" presentation bridges the gap between high-level theory and the raw, lived experiences of newcomer families.

Drawing on qualitative research, participants will hear the anonymous perspectives of students who arrived with "negative zero" English proficiency and parents struggling to navigate "invisible" systems—such as U.S. health expectations, school transportation, and digital communication gaps. Attendees will leave with a "Blueprint for Newcomer Success" that includes actionable protocols for implementing immigrant-led support circles, leveraging modern communication tools like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Viber and identifying "warm demander" teacher models to accelerate both language acquisition and social belonging.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the systemic barriers—from "survival mode" language needs to cultural clashes regarding school attendance—that impact newcomer student success.

• Apply Ecological Systems Theory to move leadership from "neutrality" to active advocacy through a social justice lens.

• Implement a multi-tiered support protocol, featuring intensive immersion periods and community-engaged mentorship led by established immigrant families.

Session I Title: 

Session Title: Engagement Structures to Support Our Multilingual Learners

Goals:
The Why- Understand why engagement structures are important for multilingual learners and beneficial for all students.

Foundations of Cooperative Learning- Distinguish between traditional group work and structured cooperative learning.

Understand how the PIES principles (Positive Interdependence, Individual Accountability, Equal Participation, and Simultaneous Interaction) increase engagement and access.

Learn Practical Strategies for Immediate Use- Experience a variety of engagement structures firsthand.

Identify structures that promote student voice, collaboration, and academic discourse.

Leave with practical tools that can be implemented immediately across grade levels and content areas.

Toolbox of Cooperative Learning Structures

Session 2 Title: Authentic Assessment for Multilingual Learners (and ALL students)

Description:

This session will focus on using the three big ideas and four critical questions of a Professional Learning Community to design assessments that align with intended learning goals and anticipate students’ instructional needs based on collected data. Participants will engage in intentional planning around when and how to incorporate both formal and informal assessments throughout a unit using a backwards planning template. Additionally, educators will learn how to analyze linguistic and academic data to plan targeted instruction that supports the needs of all learners.