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Building Capacity FOR Collaboration and THROUGH Collaboration


During the past decade, interpreter and translator services have soared across public and public charter schools in the US.

In today’s increasingly multilingual and neurodiverse schools, collaboration is essential to support all learners. When we succeed, fail, and reflect together, we not only develop collective efficacy but also model the 21st-century skills we want to develop in our learners (Nordmeyer, 2015). Intentional and strategic co-planning, co-teaching, co-assessing, and co-reflecting promote equitable, language-rich learning environments for multilingual learners (Dove and Honigsfeld, 2018, 2022). However, collaboration is not just an effective instructional approach. It is also a catalyst for professional learning: building capacity for all teachers to share responsibility for all students.

In the past decade, many schools worldwide have transformed how they serve diverse school communities. On one hand, schools have shifted away from the fragmentation and segregation of pull-out or withdrawal programs, with specialists planning and delivering language development classes, academic interventions, or special education services in isolation; on the other hand, schools have shifted toward the greater cohesion and integration offered by collaborative planning and in-class support (Honigsfeld and Nordmeyer, 2020). In the process of researching and building professional learning opportunities for collaboration, we have documented teachers sharing the work of planning and delivering integrated language and content instruction that promotes the success of multilingual learners (Dove and Honigsfeld, 2018; Honigsfeld and Dove, 2019; Greenberg Motamedi et al., 2019; Nordmeyer, 2015).
Coaches and specialists in learning support, special education, and language development can be invaluable resources for the entire school community, sustaining student learning and professional growth. The first part of this article explores how to build capacity for professional collaboration: creating the necessary conditions by developing an intentional culture and structures to support effective collaboration. The second part of this article will consider how to build generative and sustainable capacity through collaboration: by shifting from fragmentation to integration, professional collaboration can build more cohesive and inclusive schools, providing meaningful learning experiences for all.

Building Capacity FOR Collaboration

To help teachers maximize their work together at the classroom level, school leaders need to build a school-wide shared culture and create structures to facilitate collaboration. All educators need to develop skills, knowledge, and dispositions to allow effective collaborative practices to thrive. Shifting beliefs and attitudes helps to establish the foundation for building new teaching practices. For example, we intentionally use multilingual learners rather than English language learners (ELLs) in order to recognize the diverse linguistic assets that students bring to our classrooms, rather than positioning English at the expense of other languages. A National Education Association (2015) publication clearly indicated that multilingual learners “desperately need educators who believe in them, who recognize their assets, and who have the support and training they need to do their best by all of their students” (p. 19). Teacher collaboration is one pathway for educators to examine their core beliefs and daily practices. Focus strategies that create the conditions for teachers to work together include defining collaboration, emphasizing co-planning over co-teaching, and making TIME for co-planning.

Many researchers of inclusive education as well as practitioners in schools with collaborative school cultures emphasize the need to work together with intention. Some capture the essence of this work in the shape of a collaborative instructional cycle, which consists of four interrelated components: collaborative planning, instruction, assessment, and reflection (see Figure 1). All four phases are needed to maximize teacher effectiveness and impact MLs’ language and literacy development, academic learning, and social–emotional growth. While co-teaching itself might receive substantial attention, teachers need time and structured opportunities for the other three components of the collaborative instructional cycle: (a) thinking deeply about content and language integration and differentiated, scaffolded instruction; (b) gathering formative and summative student data and planning appropriate evidence-based instruction; and (c) reflecting on the teaching–learning process that took place in the class. This is not necessarily a linear or sequential process; however, neglecting any one part of this cycle may disrupt the balance and continuity of the collaborative work needed to positively impact student learning.

Educators can also define collaboration by using a menu approach (Mulazzi and Nordmeyer, 2010). By creating a menu listing different options for co-planning, co-teaching, co-reflecting, and co-assessing practices, educators not only provide concrete examples but also promote the notion of choice. In the same way that a restaurant would not expect a customer to order every single item on its menu, educators would not expect a colleague to engage in all collaborative practices at the same time.

Building on the menu metaphor, this approach helps to increase the appetite for collaboration while breaking the process into bite-size options. Different teachers can choose options based on what students need as well as their individual tastes and comfort levels. A menu can be co-developed by a department or division and can be refreshed each year.

Co-Planning > Co-Teaching

One of the most important aspects of collaboration happens outside the co-taught classroom: when teachers plan together. In fact, through our work with schools over the past two decades we have observed how co-planning is as important as—if not more important than—co-teaching. It is clear that co-teaching cannot be effective without co-planning, but co-planning can be effective even if teachers do not have the opportunity to collaboratively deliver their co-planned unit or lesson. Every teacher can support multilingual learners by integrating language and content; students at every proficiency level deserve to engage with challenging academic content. By building on what students can do, teachers can co-plan to scaffold learning, differentiate instruction, and meaningfully engage all learners.

However, in order to co-develop universally designed learning, teachers need both time and structures: to share what they know about students, what they know about the curriculum, and what they know about effective instruction and assessment. Using shared co-planning protocols, graphic organizers, or placeholders for language scaffolds on unit planners will invite teachers to literally “think inside the box” and consider how multilingual learners can be meaningfully engaged in every lesson.

TIME Is Essential

Almost universally, when we have worked with educators around the world, one of the most common sentiments is that “we don’t have enough time” for effective co-planning. Clearly, school leaders cannot ask teachers to plan together without providing adequate space within the school day. Additionally, once this time is set aside, teachers can maximize this precious commodity by focusing on TIME:

  • Trust: Get to know each other and build a shared commitment. While the pandemic has certainly fostered a spirit of “we are all in this together,” explicit norms and agreements can also help to build solid partnerships.
  • Intention: Establish a specific focus and concrete goals for the co-planning meeting. Including this on a calendar invitation or shared agenda ensures everyone is on the same page.
  • Materials: Ensure all electronic or paper materials are available, including both student data and curriculum documents, for all participants. This is particularly important when a specialist joins a team meeting.
  • Expectations: School leaders can communicate that this valuable co-planning time is protected, so it will be used only to co-develop materials and approaches focused on improving teaching and learning. This prevents co-planning time being co-opted for other meetings.

Building Capacity THROUGH Collaboration

As outlined above, cultural and structural foundations create the conditions for effective collaboration. In schools that have established effective collaborative practices, the impact is clear: language-rich learning environments throughout the instructional day serving all learners. In addition, implementing shared practices allows the entire school community to experience collaboration as professional development.

In fact, working together to serve a diverse group of students also builds collective teacher efficacy and provides valuable, job-embedded opportunities for reciprocal learning (Hattie, 2015, 2018). Mature partnerships facilitate relational trust, and collaboration reflects an asset-based approach. This not only facilitates student agency through dynamic meaning-making but also increases teacher agency.

Teachers are artists, musicians, comedians, poets; building on what teachers can do maximizes their expertise and reveals their unique talents. Likewise, professional learning opportunities that are embedded, daily, and reciprocal help to reduce burnout and engage teachers in a community of practice.

When teacher collaboration is recognized as sustained and generative professional learning—supporting both students and teachers—it is clearly a good investment. Teachers and administrators can agree that time and resources are well spent, advancing a shared commitment to an inclusive, integrated approach to serving all learners.

Leadership Strategies

Teachers need to work together in today’s increasingly diverse schools, and school leaders play an essential role in both creating the conditions for effective collaboration and maximizing the impact of collaboration in their schools.

Insights and Lessons Learned

Teacher collaboration is becoming the norm across schools and classrooms around the world. School leaders can create a vision for more cohesive, integrated, and collaborative schools. Implementing and sustaining this vision requires deliberate and intentional strategies. Some key ideas to keep in mind:

  • Conditions for effective collaboration include a school-wide cultural shift, shared beliefs about collective efficacy, and commitment to equitable learning environments.
  • Transparent and visible structures such as scheduling, teacher assignment, and student placement need to value and prioritize collaboration.
  • Recruiting and hiring practices can contribute to building capacity by engaging educators with experience and/or interest in collaboration.
  • Investing time and resources in collaboration is a cost-effective strategy to increase both student learning and teacher growth.

Each school context is unique, so reciprocal learning opportunities are essential to continue developing collaborative approaches for serving diverse learning populations. We have seen that the global community of educators presents opportunities for sharing innovation through research, social media, conferences, and professional learning events. This open dialogue ultimately raises our collective efficacy and helps schools worldwide to create more equitable learning environments for all students.

Insights and Lessons Learned

Teacher collaboration is becoming the norm across schools and classrooms around the world. School leaders can create a vision for more cohesive, integrated, and collaborative schools. Implementing and sustaining this vision requires deliberate and intentional strategies. Some key ideas to keep in mind:
Conditions for effective collaboration include a school-wide cultural shift, shared beliefs about collective efficacy, and commitment to equitable learning environments.
Transparent and visible structures such as scheduling, teacher assignment, and student placement need to value and prioritize collaboration.
Recruiting and hiring practices can contribute to building capacity by engaging educators with experience and/or interest in collaboration.
Investing time and resources in collaboration is a cost-effective strategy to increase both student learning and teacher growth.

Each school context is unique, so reciprocal learning opportunities are essential to continue developing collaborative approaches for serving diverse learning populations. We have seen that the global community of educators presents opportunities for sharing innovation through research, social media, conferences, and professional learning events. This open dialogue ultimately raises our collective efficacy and helps schools worldwide to create more equitable learning environments for all students.

References

Dove, M. G., and Honigsfeld, A. (2018). Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection. Corwin.
Greenberg Motamedi, J., Vazquez, M., Gandhi, E., and Holmgren, M. (2019). English Language Development Minutes, Models, and Outcomes: Beaverton School District.
Hattie, J. (2015). What Works Best in Education: The Pol­itics of Collaborative Expertise. Pearson.
Hattie, J. (2018). Collective Teacher Efficacy.
Honigsfeld, A., and Dove, M. G. (2019). Collaborating for English Learners: A Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices. Corwin.
Honigsfeld, A., and Dove, M. G. (2022). Co-Planning: 5 Essential Practices to Integrate Curriculum and Instruction for English Learners. Corwin.
Honigsfeld, A., and Nordmeyer, J. (2020). “Better Together: Evidence for co-teaching and collaboration in today’s classrooms.” AAIE InterEd Journal, 48, 129.
Mulazzi, F., and Nordmeyer, J. (2012). “Coteaching as Professional Development.” In A. Honigsfeld and M. G. Dove (Eds.), Coteaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom (pp. 219–230). Information Age Publishing.
National Education Association (2015). How Educators Can Advocate for English Language Learners (ELLs): All In!
Nordmeyer, J. (2010). “At the Intersection of Language and Content.” In J. Nordmeyer and S. Barduhn (Eds.), Integrating Language and Content (pp. 1–13). TESOL Press.
Nordmeyer, J. (2015). “Collaboration: Scaffolding student learning and teacher learning.” EARCOS Tri-Annual Journal, Winter 2015, 29–40.
Schon, D. A. (1990). Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. Jossey-Bass.

Jon Nordmeyer ([email protected]) is the school network director of the Multilingual Learning Research Center (MLRC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on building capacity to serve multilingual learners through global teacher networks. He is co-editor of Integrating Language and Content (TESOL, 2010) and has published in Teachers College Record, Global Education Review, Educational Leadership, and International Schools Journal.

Andrea Honigsfeld ([email protected]) is professor of TESOL teacher education in the School of Education at Molloy University. She is a Fulbright Scholar; an award-winning author, co-author, or co-editor of over 25 books and 60 articles; a national and international presenter; and a former EAL/ESOL teacher.

Opinion: Popular Balance and Support in Migration

Migration and language learning are so intrinsically linked that, especially at this time of year, language educators cannot help but think about the millions of people worldwide who have left their homes as a result of terrorism, war, gang and cartel violence, and political and religious persecution, as well as for economic survival. However, draconian measures are being taken worldwide to stifle migration despite the upsurge in conflict and the consequential displacement of millions of people.

In the UK, an emergency bill has been published to enable the government to ignore judgments from the European Court of Human Rights and parts of the UK’s own Human Rights Act in an effort to revive the government’s previously illegal plans to send asylum seekers to all the way to Rwanda. Under a new treaty, the UK is paying the African nation to house the migrants while their asylum applications are processed. Despite the inhumanity of deporting persecuted refugees to a country where they have no desire to go nor any affiliation, the UK government claims that it is a popular policy among the British people.

Popular support is also being used as the justification for legislation to tighten US asylum and parole laws in immigration proceedings. In the US Senate, a proposal tied to international aid packages would resume construction of the border wall, change rules to make large numbers of migrants ineligible for asylum, and revive the controversial “remain in Mexico” policy under which asylum seekers are kept outside the country while their immigration cases are heard.
At the state level, recently introduced Texas Senate Bill 4 would make it a misdemeanor for a person from a foreign nation to illegally enter or attempt to enter Texas at a location other than a lawful port of entry. But this is not a local Texas/Mexico issue—this year, over 82% of the one million immigrants encountered by Border Patrol on the Texas–Mexico border were not Mexican citizens, with many coming from Central and South America, Asia, or Eastern European countries.

Migration is a global issue that requires international cooperation to be managed effectively and humanely. We have to recognize that our international political and economic agendas have consequences that can result in the displacement of people to whom we owe the security of a place to call home.

We must also bust the popular myth that immigration, even in large numbers, has a negative impact on the receiving country or state. Immigrants have been scapegoated for all kinds of problems, from crime increases to unemployment, despite well-documented proof to the contrary. The reality is that most developed countries are facing labor shortages and need younger migrants to maintain their economic growth, which is why most countries accept migrants with the right qualifications or income.

We know from the laws of physics that everything in our world seeks equilibrium. No walls, be they concrete, electronic, or bureaucratic, are impervious to the flow of migrants, so even when refugees or asylum seekers are not the “right” migrants, we need to welcome, befriend, educate, assimilate, and learn from them.

Does Language Affect Color Differentiation?

A new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has revealed the materialization of specific words to distinguish specific colors in a small community, was consequential to learning a second language.

The research found that people of a remote Amazonian society who learned Spanish as a second language began to distinguish ‘blue’ from ‘green’ in a new way. 

There is a wide variation in the number of basic color terms described by different languages across the globe. It has been proven that more isolated communities are likely to have fewer words to separate distinct colors and shades in the spectrum, and those they do have are either grouped in ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ colors.  

According to MIT’s study, the process in which humans use language to determine color terms can be affected by contact with and adoption of other languages. 

In the Amazonian Tsimane’ society—a population living in a remote part of the Bolivian Amazon rainforest, MIT researchers found that those who had acquired Spanish as a second language had started to classify colors into more words. These distinctions were observed as being uncommon within Tsimane’ who are monolingual (only speak one language).

In the researchers’ most notable finding, Tsimane’ who were bilingual, began using two different words to describe blue and green, which again was atypical for monolingual community members. Furthermore, instead of borrowing Spanish words for blue and green, they brought together several words from their own language to describe those colors.

The team also found that the bilingual Tsimane’ became more precise in describing colors such as yellow and red, and two specific words to describe shades of blue and green—”shandyes” and “yushñus.” Monolingual speakers in the community would more commonly use a select few words to encompass a much wider range of colors than what a Spanish or English speaker would include.

Edward Gibson, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and the senior author of the study, explained “Learning a second language enables you to understand these concepts that you didn’t have in your first language. What’s also interesting is they used their own Tsimane’ terms to start dividing up the color space more like Spanish does.” 

The concept of language relating to thought, has been the subject of much scrutiny. Some linguists have argued that language can only limit the experience of color only to a certain degree, and that there is a baseline ‘orderly’ emergence of color terms in most global languages. Despite not having a word for a specific color or shade however does not mean a person can’t visually perceive its differences, compared to another.  

During the study, researchers asked 30 bilingual Tsimane’ people, along with 71 monolingual Tsimane’ people to sort 84 chips of different colors and to comment on  how they would label and name them. The bilingual participants were asked to repeat the same task in both Tsimane’ and Bolivian-Spanish.

As well as separating out the blue and green names, the participants who spoke two languages were more precise about naming colors in Tsimane’. The researchers noted that this finding demonstrated how languages can have an impact on each other, and how concepts like color theory can be remodeled based on language. 

“The bilingual speakers learn a different way to divide up the color space, which is pretty useful if you’re dealing with the industrialized world, “expresses Gibson. “It’s useful to be able to label colors that way, and somehow they import some of that into the Tsimane’ meaning space.”

The MIT researchers have hypothesized that bilinguals in the community may begin to influence the monolinguals when it comes to language vs. perception. In  addition, it is thought that more monolinguals will start to learn Bolivian-Spanish.

The latter prediction comes with the Tsimane’ people’s  movements in interacting more with the outside world and a developing economy. The team have expressed interest in testing their theory and findings in other isolated communities.  

Saima Malik-Moraleda, a graduate student specializing in bilingual brains at at Harvard University, says, “It’s a great example of one of the main benefits of learning a second language, which is that you open a different worldview and different concepts that then you can import to your native language.”

The research was published in Psychological Science and is discussed on the MIT website. 

Japanese Guide Created for Immigrants

As Japan’s immigrant population reaches record highs in response to demand for workers as the country’s indigenous population ages, volunteers in the Western prefecture of Mie have created a book of onomatopoeic Japanese terms, aimed at helping learners of Japanese. 

The book, entitled E Kara Oto ga Wakaru Hon (Understanding Sounds Using Pictures) was conceptualized by Masao Hara, the deputy principal of a nonprofit organization in the district. Hara’s interactions with non-Japanese residents in the prefecture led him to believe the guide would prove useful.

E Kara Oto ga Wakaru Hon includes a range of words that can be used in everyday situations – for example, a visit to the doctor, who might hear of their patient’s throbbing “zuki zuki” (pounding headache), “gan gan” (stinging insect bite), or a “muzu muzu” scratchy throat. 

To create a list of 100 terms, Hara and other members of the nonprofit meticulously trawled  through the Japanese dictionary, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

The terms are divided into categories, such as actions and emotions, to weather conditions and descriptions of inanimate objects. Each is accompanied by an illustration and descriptions in Chinese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, and Indonesian.

Chinese resident of Mie, Wan Fang explained to the Mainichi Shimbun paper that the guide had already made her job at a supermarket slightly easier.

“When I was told that the floor was tsuru tsuru in Japanese, I didn’t know what it meant, but when I saw the illustration in the book, I instantly understood that tsuru tsuru means the floor is wet or slippery,” she said. 

The first print run will see the release of 1,000 copies. As of January 2023, Mie prefecture was home to approximately 31,000 foreign residents. Across Japan, the non-Japanese population reached a record 3.2 million in 2022, according to the immigration services agency.

Swedish Dictionary Complete After 140 Years

The definitive record of the Swedish language in the form of an official Swedish dictionary has finally reached completion after 140 years in the making.

The Swedish Academy Dictionary’s (SOAB’s) final volume was sent to the printers last month, after work began in 1883. The SOAB is the Swedish equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary or the Merriam Webster Dictionary and is published by the Swedish Academy, the official body that awards the Nobel prize in literature. The dictionary contains 33,111 pages across 39 volumes. 

Established in 1786 by King Gustav III, the Swedish Academy was created with the purpose of nurturing Sweden’s language and literature, striving for the “purity, vigor and majesty” of the Swedish language.

Editor Christian Mattsson told AFP “It [the dictionary] was started in 1883 and now we’re done. Over the years, 137 full-time employees have worked on it”. 

Despite reaching this significant goal , the Academy still has work to do. Volumes A to R are now so old, they need to be revised to include modern terms. Mattsson explained that for example the word “allergy,” which was introduced into the Swedish language in the 1920s, does not feature in the A volume, as it was published in 1893. 

Words from later in the 20th Century and post-millennium, such as “Barbie doll”, “app,” and “computer” are among a list of approximately 10,000 words that will be added to the dictionary over the next seven years.

The SOAB is a historical record of the Swedish language from 1521 to modern day. Although there are only around 200 physical copies published for use by linguists and researchers, it is also available online. 

On Radio Sweden, Mattsson explained why the dictionary took so long to complete, “It’s a very complicated work, because this is a very detailed analysis and description of the Swedish language starting from the 16th century up to today’s date.”

“That means that we have to cover all Swedish words that have been used under a period of 500 years,” he added. “So that explains why it has taken nearly 150 years to complete this huge dictionary.”

In contrast to the Swedish Dictionary, publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary are already halfway to completion on a third edition, according to Radio Sweden.

“We have only about 15 staff, while English is such a big language, and they have more resources and money, and can employ more people,” Mattsson said. 

Macron Backs Ban on Gender-Inclusive French 

In France, the Senate, including President Macron, has voted in favor of a proposed law banning the use of gender neutral and gender inclusive language in official communications.

The next step is for members of parliament to vote on the law, although no date has been set as of yet. 

Emmanuel Macron urged the French public “not to give in to the tides of time” and therefore reject gender-inclusive terms in order to safeguard the French language.

Speaking at the opening of a new language center in Villers-Cotterêts near Paris, the French President said,  “In this language, the masculine is the neutral. There’s no need to add dots in the middle of words, or hyphens, or anything else to make it readable,” adding that the French language “builds the unity of the nation.” 

He continued, “We need to allow this language to live, to draw inspiration from others, to steal words, including from the other side of the world (…), to continue to invent, but also to keep its foundations, the foundations of its grammar.” 

The recent decision comes amid a long-term conflict of opinion between right-leaning language purists, leftist movements for language equality and feminists who have spent decades campaigning for equal and female-counterpart terms in the French language. 

“Inclusive writing” or écriture inclusive adds a feminine ending to a noun. Rather than the default masculine form providing an ending for both male and female, both genders are represented in inclusive writing. 

The discussion also includes non-gender specific language, used to describe non-binary identifying people and as an option for non-gender assumptive language.

The new law would not acknowledge terms such as iel and cellux, which are already in use. In non-gender specific language, iel is being used to replace the pronouns il and elle (meaning ‘they’ instead of he and she) and celleux is used for both celles and ceux — meaning ‘those’.

The proposed law would ban language like this in the workplace, advertising and official contracts  “whenever the legislation (or regulatory bodies) require a text to be written in French,” according to the French Senate. 

The First Lady of France, Brigitte Macron and the Académie Française, the official body charged with maintaining the status of the French language, have long campaigned against what they describe as a “barbaric abuse of syntax.” 

Mme Macron said “There are two pronouns — il and elle. The language is beautiful. And two pronouns are fine.”

The ban was originally proposed by Les Républicains senator for the Aisne region, Pascale Gruny, who refused to use the term sénatrice.

She told  French media that écriture inclusive is making the French language less accessible to people who have problems with literacy or learning disabilities. She added that the new terms represent an “ideology that jeopardizes the clarity of our language.”

In 2021, the Académie Française discussed gender-inclusive language in an open letter to the public, heavily discouraging its use, and reversing the argument for equality. “Besides the fact that it does not correspond to the spoken language, it essentially imposes a second language, the complexity of which penalizes people with cognitive disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, or apraxia. Ultimately, this attempt to make things fairer simply reinforces inequality.”

California Commits to Teaching Media Literacy

From January 1 2024, California public schools will begin teaching courses in media literacy, where students will learn to identify and distinguish valid news platforms and articles, paid advertising, and understand the impact of fake news in society.

The new syllabus will gradually be introduced into the main curriculum for all students from kindergarten through high school. It comes under Assembly Bill 873, authored by Assembly member Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October. California joins a growing number of states — including Delaware, New Jersey, and Texas — to already adopt media literacy courses into their all-age curricula. 

Media literacy content will be integrated into a range of subjects including: English language arts, mathematics, science, history, and social sciences. 

According to Berman, the law has become a necessity to combat young people’s growing reliance on social media and internet platforms as news sources. Despite strict guidelines on harmful content, platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) allow users to post freely — often with little distinction between opinion and fact — outside of official profiles from verified news sources.

A study carried out by Stanford University in 2021, found that less than one-tenth of 1% of American high school students in 2019 could identify the legitimate source of a video alleging voter fraud in an American election. The video was actually filmed in Russia. In contrast, according to a separate Stanford study published in April 2022, high school students who attended six 50-minute lessons in digital media literacy were twice as likely to spot questionable websites and news sources.

Berman explained, “Teaching media literacy is a key strategy to support our children, their families, and our society that are inundated with misinformation and disinformation on social media networks and digital platforms. We have a responsibility to teach the next generation to be more critical consumers of online content and more guarded against misinformation, propaganda, and conspiracy theories.” 

According to the new law, the syllabus will focus largely on critical thinking skills while “developing strategies to strengthen digital citizenship.”

The new legislation asserts the notion that young Californians will be properly equipped to make informed decisions over which news sources to trust, as its reach and influence is only expected to increase in coming years. 

“As we’ve seen too often in the last decade, what happens online can have the most terrifying of real-world impacts,” Berman said. “From climate denial to vaccine conspiracy theories to the Jan. 6 attack on our nation’s Capitol, the spread of online misinformation has had global and deadly consequences.”

University Trains Mexican Indigenous Language Teachers

On October 12, the date which commemorates the beginning of the European conquest of America, the new University of Indigenous Languages of Mexico (ULIM) was officially opened with the aim of enhancing respect for linguistic, ethnic, and cultural diversity within the country. 

According to the governmental decree, the university will by law become  a “decentralized public agency” and part of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP). The Mexican government maintains that it seeks  “to provide higher education for the training of professionals in indigenous languages at the undergraduate, specialty, master’s and doctorate levels, in school, non-school, mixed and dual modalities.”

The primary aim of the new, specialized university will be to carry out linguistic research, promote minority and Indigenous languages, and to offer outreach activities in order to “protect, revitalize, strengthen and develop the linguistic heritage of Mexico’s indigenous peoples”. In doing so, the overall message is to contribute to the construction of a society based on recognition and respect for linguistic, ethnic, and cultural diversity. 

During its preliminary opening school year, ULIM has been tutoring 24 women and 28 men, speaking a variety of languages including: Nahuatl, Huasteco, Wixárika, Mazahua, Mazateco, Mixe, Mixteco, Otomí, Tepehuano, Tlapaneca, Tojolabal, Tzotsil (Tsotsil), Zapoteco, and Spanish, while studying for a degree in Indigenous Language Teaching. 

Next year, courses in Translation and Interpretation in Indigenous Languages, and Indigenous Literature and Intercultural Indigenous Communication will also be offered. 

Long term, ULIM’s framework will include programs of study and higher education qualifications with official recognition. 

The university network has expressed an overall goal is to actively seek and nurture links with indigenous peoples and communities. These educational links are aimed at strengthening generational initiatives and processes related to language revitalization, protection and development of indigenous languages. 

This next step aligns with the creation of Mexico’s National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI). 

Mexico is home to 68 native languages from 11 linguistic families,  from which a further  360 linguistic variants are derived. 

No Benefit to Segregating English Learners


Grouping English learners (ELs) together in classrooms has no impact—positive or negative—on reading development for elementary school students, according to a new study by a team of literacy education researchers from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

“When I taught middle school 20 years ago, I noticed that my English learner students were separated from their native-English-speaking peers all day long,” says NYU Steinhardt associate professor Michael Kieffer, the study’s lead author. “Data show that this practice continues in many places today, encouraged by policies and educators’ good intentions to provide targeted services. Our study challenges this approach by demonstrating it has no association with reading growth.”

For “Classroom Concentration of English Learners and Their Reading Growth,” Kieffer and his co-author, Andrew Weaver, a doctoral student, analyzed the progress of 783 ELs from a large national sample of students whose development was tracked from kindergarten through fifth grade. The data were collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study– kindergarten 2010–2011 cohort. Using teacher reports on the percentage of ELs in their classrooms, the researchers examined whether high EL concentrations were linked to reading development. Their analysis controlled for students’ socioeconomic status and academic and social–emotional skills, as well as school-level variables, such as percentages of POC students.

Their findings, published in Educational Researcher, indicated neither a positive nor a negative relationship between EL concentration and reading development.

“The absence of positive effects raises questions about the common assumptions that underlie educators’ efforts to separate ELs into distinct classrooms,” the authors write.
They say that these results may be explained by the positive and negative effects of grouping EL students canceling each other out. For example, the benefit of more targeted language instruction in a primarily EL classroom might be negated by the benefits that come with engaging with fluent English speakers. 

“In future research, we hope to look more closely into classrooms to understand how teachers modify their instruction when teaching ELs in more and less integrated settings. This work will aim to unpack how and when grouping ELs together may have more specific benefits and disadvantages,” Kieffer says.

This research was supported, in part, by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education (R305A200069 and R305B140037).

Multilingual Students Succeeding

Another study published by NYU Steinhardt professor Michael Kieffer in June found that multilingual students improved in reading and math achievement substantially between 2003 and 2015.

“Educators and policymakers have been misled by traditional ways of looking at achievement data for English learners,” said Kieffer. “When we look at the broader population of multilingual students, we uncover remarkable progress.” 

Kieffer and the study’s co-author, Karen D. Thompson of Oregon State University, analyzed National Assessment of Educational Progress data from 2003 to 2015. The data demonstrated that although all students’ scores improved, multilingual students’ scores improved two to three times more than monolingual students’ scores in both subjects in grades four and eight. There is little evidence that these trends can be explained by cohort changes in racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, or regional composition.

The research also demonstrates that multilingual students are about one-third to one-half of a grade level closer to their monolingual peers in 2015 than they were in 2003. The data cannot identify the specific sources for the change in achievement but suggest that a bundle of policy changes which occurred between 2003 and 2015 may have moved schools in the right direction in serving multilingual students.   

“Despite the dominant perception that these students have made little academic progress in recent years, our findings indicate there is real evidence of progress for this population,” said Thompson, an assistant professor in OSU’s College of Education. “Students are showing what they know.”

This research was supported, in part, by grants from the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Institute of Education Sciences in the US Department of Education.

The Future of Learning


Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating exciting new opportunities for educators to engage students in the classroom, update learning activities, and build comprehensive learning experiences that develop 21st-century skills. For institutions, the rapid launch of various AI tools at scale is a double-edged sword. It creates a wealth of opportunities to improve and support learning, while also elevating the need for crafting a thoughtful policy approach that supports learning programs and ensures holistic, human-informed outcomes that fulfill educational objectives. For those just beginning to explore the pros and cons of AI in their programs, it is beneficial to learn more about how AI has already been utilized in higher education, to grasp the further opportunities available today, as AI has significantly evolved.

AI holds the promise to simplify processes, accelerate work, and automate routine tasks, freeing people for more meaningful, human-centric activities. However, this promise comes with a set of challenges that cannot be ignored. These include biases embedded in AI data sets, the potential for job displacement due to automation, and the complex issue of accountability—namely, who bears responsibility when AI-driven decisions go awry? The reality is that AI does expand the potential to exacerbate inequity. Several recent studies have highlighted how algorithms can further marginalize already underserved groups. Examples range from older women being denied government assistance in the Netherlands (Burgess et al., 2023) to patients receiving inadequate care because they are labeled “too poor” (US–EU Trade and Technology Council, 2022). It is critical that we be aware of how AI is used and be willing to critically evaluate how it is deployed, with an understanding of the real-world consequences of systemic biases in the data set used to build these technologies.

It’s not all doom and gloom. The quick deployment of generative tools and services over the past year has already made a significant impact on various aspects of our lives, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. In education, AI offers exciting prospects. While much of the current discussion has focused on the latest advancements, there’s value in examining how higher education has been successfully harnessing AI for several years.

In fact, according to a 2019 survey by Microsoft that involved 509 universities in the US, a remarkable 99% indicated that AI would play a key role in helping their institutions stay competitive. Even four years ago, institutions were already considering strategic investments in artificial intelligence to improve student outcomes, support workforce development, prepare students for the future, and accelerate innovation (Jyoti and Sutherland, 2020). Insights from these prior AI successes can serve as a guide to identify current opportunities for leveraging AI and to showcase achievements that can offer valuable lessons to others.

AI Success Stories from Higher Education
Chatbots in Student Services for Success
In 2018, the University of Murcia in Spain implemented an AI chatbot to handle inquiries from new students. This chatbot engaged with over 4,000 students, fielded more than 13,000 questions, and resolved nearly 40,000 issues (Rouhianinen, 2019). Operating around the clock, it answered over 800 questions daily, the majority of which came in outside of standard working hours. Two key takeaways from this case study were the chatbot’s 92% accuracy rate in providing the correct answers and the fact that it did not lead to job losses for human workers. Rather, student support services were able to reclaim those hours and refocus on students’ more critical needs. These early innovations helped to focus the value of AI in institutional settings.

AI to Support Student Outcomes
In 2016, Lige Hensley, the chief technology officer at Ivy Tech, a community college in Indiana with multiple campuses serving 50,000 students, decided to leverage the 26 terabytes of data generated from their learning management systems (Google for Education, 2018). The aim? To transition to the use of educational data for predictive insights. As Hensley put it, education often uses data “backwards,” revealing only in hindsight what worked and what failed.

With a future focus in mind, Ivy Tech analyzed data from 10,000 course sections to develop algorithms that could assess their incoming students. They identified 16,000 students at risk of failing within just two weeks of the semester start. Armed with this information, Student Services was able to proactively reach out and connect with students and raise awareness of resources necessary to stay on track and succeed in learning programs.

For example, some students were unaware that Ivy Tech had a utilities program that could help students who lost electricity, while others simply needed information about how to retrieve essential course materials from the bookstore.

The result was the most significant percentage drop in D and F grades in the institution’s 50-year history. Rather than merely alerting to failures after the fact, the college managed to preempt them. This proactive approach didn’t just rescue grades; it also demonstrated how AI and data analytics could serve as powerful tools for academic support, potentially transforming student experiences and institutional effectiveness.

AI for Accessibility
The Rochester Institute of Technology took a significant step to make education more accessible by using AI-powered live captions. Serving a student body of over 15,000, nearly 1,000 of whom are deaf or hard of hearing, the school issued educators in science and engineering departments with headsets equipped with Microsoft’s early-stage automatic live captioning. The impact on students was profound. One student, Joseph Adjei, from Ghana, had lost his hearing as an adult and struggled with ASL. The introduction of real-time caption technology allowed him to meet learning goals and stay on track in courses (Microsoft, 2018). Further, real-time captions benefit everyone. A metanalysis of 100 empirical studies found that captions benefit all, improving reading skills, supporting comprehension, and reducing confusion for listeners (Gernsbacher, 2015).

AI to Support Language Development
Finally, it’s worth noting that some of us are already leveraging AI to bolster student success. For instance, Grammarly, an AI-powered writing assistant, is in use at over 3,000 schools to improve student writing, often among those for whom English is a second language. As AI continues to evolve, with sophisticated models like ChatGPT potentially changing the writing landscape, the foundational importance of good writing in both academics and the workforce endures.

AI and Future Skills
Studies indicate that people in knowledge-intensive roles like business analysts and data scientists are increasingly vulnerable to displacement by generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude (Kochhar, 2023). The implications for educational settings are becoming increasingly clear. The way we teach writing, for instance, will need a reevaluation, given that AI tools can now both generate and assess content. As AI becomes a core digital skill, the impact on teaching writing and other curriculum areas will be transformative.

This is more than a tech trend; it’s a global workforce shift. By 2030, technology will have altered 1.1 billion jobs worldwide, according to the World Economic Forum and OECD (OECD, 2021). Equipping our learners with both technical and human skills becomes essential for success in a technology-transformed landscape. So, what are the next steps? How can we leverage these technologies to the advantage of institutions, educators, and most importantly, students?

The Competitive Advantage of AI
For institutions that want to leverage AI for a competitive edge, start by thinking holistically. Consider the range of human skills that will still matter and how to integrate them into an AI-inclusive curriculum. The World Economic Forum’s Taxonomy of Education 4.0 (World Economic Forum, 2023) is a handy road map, detailing cognitive, social, physical, and self-regulatory skills. It encapsulates the multidimensional skill set our students will need in an AI-driven world, integrating and expanding on various skills and knowledge frameworks from around the globe.
Why does this matter? Dr. David Wiley of Lumen Learning puts it bluntly: students adept at leveraging AI tools like LLMs for their creativity and productivity will be in high demand. In contrast, those who’ve been restricted from such tools won’t have the same appeal (Wiley, 2023). In sum, the “how” and “why” of teaching and learning are undergoing radical transformation, and it is imperative to have a plan to stay ahead and implement successful solutions.

Preparing Your Institutions for AI
Institutions understand how important human skills are to the future; let’s look at some specific ways institutions can prepare to leverage AI technology today. There are a few steps that institutional leaders should review to ensure their programs are ready for AI and that educators and students have a clear idea of how the use of AI-driven tools and resources will be leveraged as part of the learning experience.

Using a five-point framework, institutional leaders can be proactive in how AI tools are utilized, consistently and with a focus on improving quality of learning experiences and supporting the overall efficacy of institutional offerings.

This five-point framework revolves around vision, people, process, technology, and data readiness. Each is crucial for an institution’s successful implementation and scaling of AI initiatives. Starting with a clear vision, institutions should inventory the skills available among staff, identify processes ripe for AI-driven improvement, assess existing technology, and determine the level of data readiness. Addressing these pillars methodically sets the groundwork for an AI transition that elevates both learning experiences and institutional capabilities.

The following questions can be used to analyze the current preparedness of institutions to work with AI successfully and help inform discussion for creating AI policies to support institutional success:
Vision – What is your strategy for AI? How will this impact your culture and help you achieve ROI appropriate for your business?
People – What skills do you have? What will you need? How will human/AI collaboration impact your organization’s structure?
Process – What processes can be improved or revamped? How will improvements be governed? How will you measure impact?
Technology – Where can AI be operationalized? How will those models be built/acquired? Who will be responsible?
Data readiness – What data do you need to prepare? How will you guard against bias? What practices will you employ to reduce risks (e.g., privacy, security)?

Institutions must outline a clear AI strategy, identify existing skills and gaps, consider process improvements, assess technology infrastructure, and ensure data readiness. Careful policy planning in these areas sets the stage for positive impacts in multiple strategic domains, from student recruitment to learning experiences and beyond. It’s worth noting that while AI has vast potential to reshape the educational landscape, it will never replace the uniquely human capacities for imagination, creativity, critical thinking, and interpersonal interaction.
AI can be a tool for change and opportunity, but it serves to augment, not replace, the essential elements of human ingenuity and inspiration.

AI and the Future of Learning
The integration of AI into higher education is a complex undertaking that presents a range of ethical, technical, and strategic challenges for educators and policymakers. While AI has the potential to significantly impact higher education—from reducing administrative burdens through chatbots to providing real-time support for diverse student needs—it is not without its complications. Careful planning and consideration are essential for its successful adoption and deployment.

We are in an exciting and critical moment for institutional leaders to define their AI strategies, considering the needs of their people, the readiness of their technology infrastructure, and the availability of data. By doing so, they can ensure that AI is used strategically to enhance learning experiences without compromising educational outcomes. Four years ago, higher education institutions were already recognizing the potential of AI to support students. Now, in this pivotal moment for AI implementation, the opportunity to foster a dynamic, future-oriented learning environment is within everyone’s reach.

References
Burgess, M., Schot, E., and Geiger, G. (2023). “This Algorithm Could Ruin Your Life.” Wired. www.wired.co.uk/article/welfare-algorithms-discrimination
Gernsbacher, M. (2015). “Video Captions Benefit Everyone.” Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 195–202. doi:10.1177/2372732215602130
Google for Education (2018). “Ivy Tech Develops Machine Learning Algorithm to Identify At-Risk Students and Provide Early Intervention.” https://edu.google.com/why-google/customer-stories/ivytech-gcp
Jyoti, R., and Sutherland, H. (2020). Future-Ready Institutions. IDC.
Microsoft (2018). “AI Technology Helps Students Who Are Deaf Learn.” The AI Blog. https://blogs.microsoft.com/ai/ai-powered-captioning
OECD (2021). “Artificial Intelligence and Employment.” OECD. www.oecd.org/future-of-work/reports-and-data/AI-Employment-brief-2021.pdf
Rouhianinen, L. (2019). Artificial Intelligence: 1010 Things You Must Know Today about Our Future. Amazon.
Shiohira, K. (2021). Understanding the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Skills Development. UNESCO-UNEVOC.
US–EU Trade and Technology Council. (2022). The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Future of Workforces in the European Union and the United States of America. The White House. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TTC-EC-CEA-AI-Report-12052022-1.pdf
Wiley, D. (2023). “What the Past Can Teach Us about the Future of AI and Education.” Campus Technology. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2023/04/06/what-the-past-can-teach-us-about-the-future-of-ai-and-education.aspx?s=ct_pulse_120423&oly_enc_id=1438A5729301G3V
Cann, O. (2020). “The Reskilling Revolution: Better skills, better jobs, better education for a billion people by 2030.” World Economic Forum. www.weforum.org/press/2020/01/the-reskilling-revolution-better-skills-better-jobs-better-education-for-a-billion-people-by-2030

Based in Chicago, Sara Davila is the ESL research and assessment policy analyst for IELTS USA. She focuses on the intersection of pedagogy, assessment, and emerging technologies to enhance language acquisition. The British Council recognized her contributions by nominating her for an ELTons in Digital Innovation in 2021, for her work in supporting the launch of the world’s first real-time interactive virtual reality language-learning application. Sara continues to contribute to the field through her website at saradavila.com.

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