WABE 2026 Fall Institute

This session will introduce the Critical Data Process, designed by Steve Gill, which school teams use to understand if the struggles of a language learner are due to language acquisition or are due to the combination of language acquisition and a possible disability. In this one hour session, I will provide an overview of the 16 critical areas and discuss what data is needed, how to obtain that data, and the implications of the data. Using this process, teams will have a much greater understanding of the root problem and will have the context needed to either redesign intervention(s), design new intervention(s), or process a referral (and potentially a special education evaluation).

Low literacy has multiple causes in our multilingual learners. Ending the disconnect between what we have learned from research on reading and language acquisition and what happens in the dual language classroom and the craft of teaching children to read in two languages. Effective strategies that will help educational leaders build capacity by linking teacher education and instructional practices in biliteracy and language acquisition. Executing leadership practices that promote the integration of oracy, written language, and cross-linguistic contrastive analysis of language across the learning community by creating a clear articulation of implementation, instruction, and a real pulse of culture!

It’s well-known that a warm and welcoming school environment lowers students’ affective filters and creates a more fertile ground for learning. But what is necessary to create such a climate, and how can that impact language development? This session dives into UDL as a framework for ensuring school and classroom conditions provide students with maximum flexibility for engagement, making meaning of information, and expressing their learning. Participants will explore the 3 principles of UDL, particularly as they relate to access and opportunity for languages to grow and excel. The session will also explore the complementary and supplementary aspects of UDL as it compares to the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP).

In this session, participants will explore the characteristics of inclusive practices that welcome multilingual learners with disabilities into all of our classrooms. As a practitioner, Cristina will share strategies, and resources that have been found to support multilingual learners (both young and adolescents) with disabilities to develop language, literacy and content area knowledge in a variety of learning contexts.

In this session, participants will explore a lesson cycle that can be used for instruction during whole class, small group and intervention with multilingual learners. We will explore strategies for integrating reading, writing and oracy in different content areas and across grade levels.

Have you ever been in a support team meeting for a student who is a multilingual learner and felt like the conversation didn’t sufficiently explore how culture and language played a role in their schooling? This session centers on one district’s journey to develop a tiered support teams (TST) process that takes a thoughtful approach to understanding how students’ linguistic and cultural repertoires have influenced their educational experiences. The TST process ensures teams have the tools and structure necessary for robust conversations, especially when it comes to a potential need for tiered supports (i.e., interventions).


Participants will learn about:

• The district’s gap analysis of current systems as compared to the vision
• Input and feedback pathways for school staff
• Research and strengths-based development of the new TST process
• Professional learning to support implementation