In Fall 2022, Whittier College’s Teacher Education program launched their online bilingual authorization program (BILA). In year 1, the program was initially fully asynchronous, but after surveying BILA students mid-way through the semester, they provided feedback that they wanted more synchronous instruction with their instructors. Whittier College students are used to personalized and small group…

My decade-long involvement in shadowing projects across the country has taught me that the average percentage of time that multilingual learners (MLLs) are speaking is often 5–10%. This is in contrast to what researchers like Pauline Gibbons (2015) tell us—that MLLs should be spending at least 30% of their school day in academic talk. This…

There are several techniques that represent a highly significant literacy instruction method, as it helps teachers to develop their students’ ability in reading faster, which is an important aspect of understanding. One such effective and technical teaching method is ‘choral reading’ with which students with the help of teachers can enhance their communicative skills. When…

By: Abigail Swisher, Rural Impact Fellow, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Spanning 37,000 miles across Alaska, the Northwest Arctic Borough School District has struggled to hire and retain enough new teachers. The eleven villages within the district – many of them above the Arctic Circle – are sparsely populated and remote. The winters are…

Microschools, while not a new concept, are currently garnering increasing attention as an educational innovation. Microschools are small learning environments with typically less than 150 students that offer personalized and student-centered learning experiences. Teachers hungry for more autonomy, families seeking personalized learning, and the constraints of education budgets are all fueling the demand for microschools….