Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) are designed to serve all students. This session explores how to strengthen MTSS by embedding language development into core instruction, data use, and decision-making. Participants will learn practical strategies to improve Tier I instruction, reduce misidentification, and ensure equitable access for multilingual learners.
Participants will explore six key actions that strengthen core instruction, improve data-based decision-making, and ensure equitable access across all tiers. Through real classroom examples and guided reflection, educators will examine how Tier I instruction can be intentionally designed to support both content and language development—reducing unnecessary interventions and improving outcomes for multilingual learners.
This session is designed for core content educators, instructional coaches, ML specialists, and school/district leaderswho are committed to improving instructional systems
Through an introduction to the Academic Discourse Playbook, participants will explore and experience discussion strategies to engage ML students in meaningful academic discourse applicable to all content areas and grade-levels. Participants will leave this session with actionable, practical guidance for implementing discussion protocols and formats into their lessons to support both content learning and language acquisition.
In this practical, hands-on session, participants will explore 20 ready-to-use classroom activities designed for K–12 educators across all content areas. Each activity intentionally integrates interculturality, social-emotional learning (SEL), and the use of artificial intelligence tools to support both language development and content access. The approach affirms students’ linguistic and cultural identities while fostering belonging, reflection, and student agency. Participants will engage in the activities as learners, ensuring they leave with strategies they can implement immediately in their own classrooms.
The session introduces a simple, replicable instructional model in which:
Students engage in structured interaction Students apply academic concepts to meaningful tasks Students participate in guided reflection and dialogue Students produce a concrete product as evidence of learning
Let’s Play! is an interactive, in-person session designed for PreK–3 educators to explore the power of joyful learning for multilingual children. In this 90-minute workshop, participants will engage in hands-on activities, collaborative discussions, and real-world examples to better understand what play looks like for multilingual learners, why it supports language development, and how it can be meaningfully integrated into classroom practice. Educators will observe and reflect on examples of children at play, exchange ideas with peers, and consider how local contexts influence opportunities for play.
Unpacking Your Dreams is an itinerary literacy program for ML families (parents, sons, daughters, cousins, and other relatives) that allows the entire household to participate in bilingual read-aloud, recognition of characters and main events by a selected story simulation through hands-on activities to support vocabulary acquisition and other skills such as sequencing, making inferences, and drawing conclusions in an authentic learning environment. At the end of the session, participants will take the Unpacking Your Dreams Kit home with ready-to-use instructional resources and tools.
Kelly Schultz entered the field of education in the Spring of 2008 as a secondary English Language Arts teacher. She has since progressed in the field serving as a curriculum coach, MTSS District Coordinator, and NCDPI Education Consultant. Kelly has taught in both Illinois and North... Read More →
This professional learning supports best practices by providing teams of teachers (general and special educators and ML Teachers) with the six approaches of co-teaching, their implementation and practical tools, which can be utilized by teams implementing co-teaching in their schools. The teams will gain knowledge of the essential elements of co-teaching: co-planning, co-instructing and co-assessing within an ELA classroom.
HB 959 requires structured instruction on social media’s impact on mental health, misinformation, manipulation, digital safety, and reporting protocols across K–12. This session outlines a practical framework for translating legislative requirements into vertically aligned, standards-based learning experiences. Participants will explore how to embed these requirements and the Digital Learning Standards for Students into existing curriculum, ensure developmental alignment, and support sustainable implementation ahead of the 2026–2027 mandate.
This session provides educators and school leaders with a clear, practical understanding of the NCDPI Multiple Measure Tool (MMT) for Multilingual Learners. Designed to support equitable, data-informed decision-making, the MMT offers a comprehensive pathway for determining student readiness to exit English Learner services beyond a single test score.
Participants will explore key components of the MMT process, including eligibility criteria, team roles, observation protocols, timelines, and documentation requirements. Through guided discussion and application activities, participants will deepen their understanding of how to use multiple sources of evidence, including classroom observations and student performance, to make informed reclassification decisions while maintaining compliance with state requirements.
Education Consultant, Department of Public Instruction
I am Michigan born and bred! I moved to North Carolina almost 20 years ago and have found a home in the South. When I first moved to NC, as I was waiting for my Clinical Mental Health Counselor licensing, I took a part-time job working with ESL students. I fell in love and never looked... Read More →
This session examines the impact of purposefully designed Spanish Heritage courses at the middle school level and underscores the importance of instruction tailored to heritage language learners. Participants will explore how a dedicated heritage curriculum supports bilingualism, biliteracy, academic achievement, and cultural identity development. The session highlights key design principles, instructional practices, and programmatic considerations that address the unique linguistic strengths and needs of heritage speakers, offering insights for schools seeking to build or strengthen heritage language programs.
In this session, participants will explore several state policies and discuss how their local implementation practices impact students in World Language programs. We will focus on K-12 articulation for dual language/immersion (DL/I) programs, as well as K-5, K-8, and high school credit courses for middle school students in classical and modern language programs, that build proficiency and could lead to placement into more advanced courses in grades 9 - 12. We will also discuss local course sequence(s) that include offering Level I and II as standard or honors courses, creating pathways that lead to advanced coursework, and fulfilling the requirements for the UNC Minimum Admissions Requirements or the Global Language Endorsement (GLE), North Carolina’s Seal of Biliteracy.
