Advocating for Multilingual Learners

Diane Staehr Fenner, PhD, is the president of SupportEd (SupportEd.com), a woman-owned small business located in the Washington, DC, metro area that she founded in 2011. SupportEd is dedicated to empowering multilingual learners and their educators. Dr. Staehr Fenner leads her team to provide ML professional development, coaching, technical assistance, and curriculum and assessment support to school districts, states, organizations, and the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to forming SupportEd, Dr. Staehr Fenner was an English language development (ELD) teacher, dual language assessment teacher, and ELD assessment specialist in Fairfax County Public Schools, VA. She speaks German and Spanish and has taught in Berlin, Germany, and Veracruz, Mexico. Dr. Staehr Fenner grew up on a dairy farm in central New York and is a proud first- generation college graduate. She has written eight books on ML education (and counting), including coauthoring Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners: Tools for Equity and authoring Advocating for English Learners: A Guide for Educators. She is a frequent keynote speaker on ML education at conferences across North America. She earned her PhD in Multilingual/Multicultural Education at George Mason Universityand her MAT in TESOL at the School for International Training. You can connect with her by email at Diane@SupportEd.com or on Twitter at @DStaehrFenner. Sydney Snyder, PhD, is a principal associate at SupportEd. In this role, Dr. Snyder coaches ML educators and develops and facilitates interactive professional development for teachers of MLs. She also works with the SupportEd team to offer technical assistance to school districts and educational organizations. Dr. Snyder has extensive instructional experience and has worked in the field of English language development forover 25 years. She started her teaching career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, West Africa. This experience ignited her passion for language teaching, culturally responsive instruction, and ML advocacy. Dr. Snyder is coauthor of Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners: Tools for Equity and contributing author to Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall. She served as an English Teaching Fellow at Gadja Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She earned her PhD in Multilingual/ Multicultural Education at George Mason University and her MAT in TESOL at the School for International Training. You can connect with her by email at Sydney@SupportEd.com or on Twitter at @SydneySupportEd.

• PrefaceIntroductionChapter 1: Need for Advocacy for Multilingual LearnersChapter 2: Advocating for a Shared Sense of Responsibility for Educating MLsChapter 3: Advocating for Effective Instruction of Multilingual LearnersChapter 4: Advocating for MLs in AssessmentChapter 5: Advocating for ML Newcomer StudentsChapter 6: Advocating for Effective ML Family and School PartnershipsChapter 7: Advocating for MLs Through Professional LearningChapter 8: Advocating for MLs’ Access to Educational OpportunitiesChapter 9: Next Steps in Advocating for Multilingual Learners

"Staehr Fenner and Snyder have provided a blueprint for future and current advocates across the field of multilingual learning, teaching, and leadership. By increasing knowledge, awareness, and application of advocacy efforts, readers will be better positioned to champion for the linguistically diverse communities they serve. This book is a much-needed call for action!"