As the leaves turn and the first quarter of the school year winds down, professional development calendars are filling up again. This month, we highlight a signature model we offer: Collaborative Lesson Inquiry Cycles (CLICs). Teacher Corner In this WestEd webinar, Haiwen Chu and Monique Evans unpack the Collaborative Lesson Inquiry Cycle (CLIC) model. During a CLIC, teacher teams plan a lesson together, observe and teach the lesson, and then debrief and refine the lesson to

Registration is open for the 2027 QTEL Winter Institutes, taking place January 11–14, 2027, in Washington, D.C. Join educators and leaders from across the country for an engaging professional learning experience focused on improving outcomes for English and Multilingual Learners. With space limited, we encourage you to make plans now to join us this January. Choose from two institute offerings: Leadership in English Learner Education: Designed for site and district leaders w

Join Haiwen Chu and Monique Evans the 58th Annual NCSM Conference, October 26–28, 2026, in Denver, Colorado. This year’s NCSM conference theme is “Elevate: Bold Mathematics Leadership.”  Wednesday, October 28  Presentation: Teacher-Driven Capacity Building for Multilingual Learners: Collaborative Lesson Inquiry Cycles Time: 7:45–8:45 a.m.    Location: Governors Square 12 Presenters: Haiwen Chu (WestEd) and Monique Evans (WestEd) We share insights from more than 15 cycl

Join Haiwen Chu and Monique Evans at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for the 2025 Annual Meeting & Exposition, October 28–31, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.  This year’s NCTM conference theme is “Mathematics for a Changing World.”  Thursday, October 29  Burst Session: Engaging Multilingual Learners in Quality Interactions: Structured Sorting Tasks Time: 4:30–5 p.m.    Location: Colorado Convention Center / 601 Presenter: Monique Evans (WestEd) Multilingual

This month, we’re featuring how to build classroom community as the school year kicks off and what leaders should get right about professional learning—and we invite you to take a quick survey to help shape WestEd's in-house ESL certification work. Teacher Corner Happy start to the school year! As your students return, we know that developing a meaningful classroom culture is high on your list of priorities. Check out this video of students from Bonham Middle School in San A

Following three successful Summer Institutes, we are excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2027 QTEL Winter Institutes, taking place January 11–14, 2027 in Washington, D.C.This winter, we are offering two professional learning opportunities designed to strengthen educators' and leaders' capacity to support English and Multilingual Learners through rigorous and engaging instruction: Leadership in English Learner Education for site and district leaders who

Decoding and fluency are essential—but they’re the foundation, not the finish line. True reading comprehension is a rich, multidimensional process, and understanding it changes everything about how we teach. Date: Thursday, August 6, 2026 Time: 12–12:30 p.m. PT / 3–3:30 p.m. ET We know decoding matters—but a student who reads every word correctly can still understand very little. This 30-minute Leading Together webinar takes educators beyond the “crack the code” view of rea

Language is the medium through which reading comprehension occurs, and a student’s command of expressive and academic language is one of the strongest predictors of reading success. Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2026 Time: 12–12:30 p.m. PT / 3–3:30 p.m. ET This 30-minute Leading Together webinar examines how oral language development, including syntax, vocabulary depth, and discourse structure, underpins the ability to construct meaning from complex texts. Particular attention i

Voices from the QTEL Summer Institute The 2026 QTEL Summer Institute in Santa Cruz brought together educators and leaders committed to creating rigorous, meaningful learning opportunities for multilingual students through high-challenge, high-support instruction. In this issue, we’re highlighting reflections from participants themselves—the moments, conversations, and learning experiences that made the institute impactful, and the ideas and commitments educators are carrying

In this 30-minute webinar, we will explore how writing about content, in students’ own voices and in the language of each discipline, building and honing the skills that complex texts demand. We offer practical strategies for K–12 classrooms and content areas throughout. Date: Thursday, July 23, 2026 Time: 12–12:30 p.m. PT / 3–3:30 p.m. ET Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are not separate skills. They are part of the same language system, and they grow stronger toget

School's Out for Summer! Congratulations on making it through another school year! As you move into vacation mode, we encourage you to celebrate your wins and to focus on doing things that will help you recharge. If you need a good beach read, we recommend the second edition of Amplifying the Curriculum: Designing Quality Learning Opportunities for Multilingual Learners, edited by Aída Walqui, George C. Bunch, and Peggy Mueller. This book focuses on how educators can design l

Explore how schools can support newcomer English Learners through integrated, simultaneous language and content instruction, and preview how QTEL Summer Institutes deepen this work through sustained professional learning. Date: Thursday, May 28, 2026 Time: 12–12:30 p.m. PT / 3–3:30 p.m. ET As newcomer populations grow nationwide, schools are challenged to move beyond remediation-focused approaches toward models that integrate language development with rigorous content learnin

End of Year Reflections Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, helps all people take control of their own learning. By offering space for reflection, we create an opportunity for ourselves, our teams, and our students to better understand not only what we learn, but also how we learn. This allows us to replicate successful learning methods in the future. In this issue, we recommend a few ways that you can invite yourself, your students, and/or your school team to reflect

We are excited to share that WestEd’s Kathia Romo will be presenting at the California Association for Bilingual Education - CABE Riverside Regional Conference on Tuesday, May 12, and she will be leading two workshops: Language, Leadership, and Learning: Jurupa USD’s Journey Towards Equity for English Learners (with partners from Jurupa Unified School District)—highlighting how systematic leadership can drive sustainable, equity-focused change for English Learners (10:45-11:4

QTEL's Tanya Warren will present at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) 2026 Annual Conference , held April 15–18, 2026 , at the Anaheim Convention Center . NSTA ANA26 is the premier national professional learning event for science and STEM educators, bringing together teachers, curriculum leaders, instructional coaches, and district administrators for 4 days of learning and collaboration. This year’s theme is “ Growing Together: Collective Insights for Lifelon

Teaching and Leading As educators, it’s our job to ensure that the curriculum we teach provides high-challenge, high-support learning opportunities for all students, including Multilingual Learners (MLs). This means that we need to take an analytical eye to our curriculum. You can use this QTEL Curriculum Review Tool to guide you and/or a group of educators to consider and discuss the strengths and needs of a particular unit or an entire curriculum. Should this curriculum be

Now enrolling: Elevating Access in Master Scheduling (E-Series) — a 4-part professional learning series that helps school and district teams use master scheduling to strengthen English Learners’ access to grade-level coursework, language development programs, and graduation pathways. Session 1 starts April 28, so register now! https://tinyurl.com/yc79d3fb

Do English and Multilingual Learners in your schools receive quality opportunities to learn? Every summer, QTEL holds professional development institutes for educators focused on building educator expertise to engage English Learners—and all students—in deep, generative learning. During our summer institutes, participants experience and unpack powerful models of learning that they can translate into school and classroom practices that accelerate academic language and literac

Addressing Misconceptions of a Language Focus When we treat language as a resource for meaning-making—not just grammar rules or vocabulary lists—we create opportunities for multilingual learners to develop both language and disciplinary understanding at the same time. By intentionally planning for purposeful language use, we strengthen learning and ensure language is seen as a tool that accelerates understanding rather than as something that needs to be taught separately. Tea

QTEL experts will present at the California Association for Bilingual Education Annual Conference this March 4–7, 2026 , in San Francisco, California . This year’s conference theme is  CABE Strong: United for Equity & Empowerment by Our Cultures and Multiplicity of Languages . Wednesday, March 4 System-Level Conditions for Implementing and Sustaining Quality DLI Programs Time: 2:30–3:30 p.m. Location: Yerba Buena Salon 2 – Lower B2 Level Presenters: Gabriela Uro and Anne