About the Authors

Charli is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. Her research interests include equitable and culturally responsive family engagement practices, high-quality dual language immersion and world language immersion programs, biliteracy development, and culturally and linguistically accessible curricula. She has 21 years of teaching experience, including Spanish as a World Language, general education, multiage, and language immersion. Currently, she teaches Spanish to English and Spanish language learners in a Spanish-English dual language immersion program in Columbia, South Carolina. She is passionate about creating equitable learning environments where language learners can thrive socially and academically while drawing on their linguistic and social resources to support their learning and development.

Tieshia is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Gardner-Webb Univeristy in North Carolina. Her research interests include beginning teacher retention and teacher perceptions on the district and state induction process. Tieshia holds a B.A in Psychology from the University of Memphis, and a M.A. in Teaching from Wingate University. She was a classroom teacher for seven years in Union County Public Schools and is transitioning to an instructional coach position in an elementary school.