Leading Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction Across Schools

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Well, welcome to day three. Oh, I'm so sad. This is our last day. I mean, no, no, no.

It's been too fun, but we are ending with a magical moment.

So I'm so happy you all are here with us today.

Again, welcome to day three of structured literacy week for every learner.

We are doing this in partnership with Ed Web, along with Core Learning.

Over the past two days, we have explored national leadership perspectives and future facing

conversations about equity, language, and innovation.

And today, we turn our focus to implementation.

The session centers on a question many district leaders are living with right now.

How do leadership decisions actually translate into consistent evidence-based instruction

across schools? I know you all are very excited to answer that question.

And very excited to hear from our special guest, Olga Cobb.

Today's conversation, leading evidence-based instruction across schools focuses on how districts

and school leaders translate evidence-based literacy priorities into consistent practice

across schools by learning vision, professional learning, and daily instruction.

My name is Christy Shelley, and I am the chief product officer at Core Learning.

For 30 years, Core has partnered with schools, like Olga's, and districts to turn the sciences

of reading, language, and learning into a line system-wide practice that lasts, ensuring

every student has access to high quality, culturally and linguistically responsive literacy

instruction. On behalf of Core, I can say that we are all so very thrilled to have Olga Cobb,

the deputy superintendent for elementary at Salem Kaiser School District with us today.

Olga brings more than two decades of experience as an educator and district leader

with deep roots in Salem Kaiser. Her career spans bilingual instructions, school leadership,

district administration, system-wide level work that is a long list, Olga, supporting principals

and instructional teams. Today's conversation draws from Olga's lived experience,

leading evidence-based instruction across a large and diverse district.

And if you've been with us the last few days, you know our fabulous moderator, Maya,

Valencia Goodall, the chief impact officer at Core Learning. Maya's work focuses on the intersection

of language, literacy, and leadership, helping systems make thoughtful decisions that center

learners and educators. I know we're anxious, but before I hand it over to them, I want to make

sure you all know how to keep in touch with Maya and Olga. You can head on over to any of Core

Learning's social media pages to connect with Maya or her own personal LinkedIn page.

I will show these again at the end, sorry if you feel like we're rushing through,

and this is how you can connect with Olga if you have your phone to scan here.

So let's start this conversation. We're going to bring up a poll. If we can bring up our first

poll here, in your district, what is the biggest barrier to consistent literacy implementation?

Would you choose lack of clarity expectations, professional learning disconnect from practice,

limited principal capacity as instructional leaders, or competing initiatives? Wow,

already, look at this. Olga, you can relate. We all can, right? As leaders and teachers,

this is something that we all feel very deeply. This is very important. Okay, I'm going to give it

just one more second, and I think the winner is competing initiatives. Okay, so with that,

I am going to say thank you in advance to Maya and Olga for spreading your wisdom, and we are all

ears, Maya. Thank you so much, Christie, for that introduction, and thank you so much, Olga, for

being here today. Absolutely, I am just so thrilled about the opportunity to be here and have

this conversation. I've been hearing a little bit pieces of the webinars this week, and it's just

such an inspiring space for us to talk about the important work of education. I appreciate that,

and you know what, thank you for even mentioning the other webinars, because this first question is

in reference to the concept that we have been talking about all week, which is identity and

leadership, and how, you know, tapping into a personal why, and getting inspired by your own

lived experiences, and how that can help you as you grow in your leadership. So one of the things

that you shared about your journey going from a bilingual teachers assistant to classroom teacher

to principal, and now super intended, is how that experienced help you expand literacy and dual

language programs from seven to 33 schools in just four years. So maybe you want to tell us a

little bit about your own personal journey as we start this conversation. Absolutely, thank you, Maya,

again, for the opportunity, and I so appreciate this question, because as educators, our personal

experience just really shapes who we become as leaders in the decisions that we make in our journey.

I am first a bilingual educator. In my journey, I serve in Oregon, and I have served in Oregon

for 26 years, and I love my community, and my educational leadership journey did not start in Oregon.

It started in Colombia, where I'm from originally. And so I came here as an adult, as a multilingual

learner, who had been educated in another country, and who brought a different cultural and

linguistic background into the system. And then something happened very quickly for me,

where I began to notice something subtle but powerful in the way people sometimes perceived me.

There was often an assumption, sometimes explicit, and sometimes just implicit, that something

about me needed to be fixed, that my accent, that my language, that my education, that my cultural

background, that my traditions, that coming from another country, somehow meant that I was lacking

something. And I tell you, Maya, that was very surprising and concerning to me. It never occurred to

me that people would think there was something that needed to be fixed. And so at the same time,

I was very fortunate. I was an adult with many tools. I was confident to share who I was. I had a

strong voice to advocate for myself, and to communicate that what I brought was not a deficit,

but it was an asset. I knew that I couldn't negotiate and manage knowledge in two languages,

and that was a pretty high level skill that I was bringing into a system. So I learned to navigate

through that. But then that experience also made me deeply think and reflect about our students

in their experience in our schools. I was worried about the seven-year-old who begins to feel

that the idea of or begins to get the idea that the knowledge they bring or the culture or the

language they have is something they have to hide or feel embarrassed about. I'm worried about the

10-year-old who starts to internalize the idea that somehow their knowledge doesn't count,

because it's not in English yet. Or I'm really worried about the 14-year-old who begins to believe

that they are behind, because before they're even given the opportunity to show their brilliance,

and or start feeling embarrassed about their families, their backgrounds, their languages,

and so that became a driver for me. Again, as adults, we have many tools to navigate through that,

but students may not yet have those tools to advocate for themselves and really talk about their

assets. So my wife became clear. I wanted every child to have the most incredible experience

in schools. I wanted, especially multilingual learners, to walk into school systems that

recognize their brilliance, their strengths, their gifts, the gifts that their families bring with

them, and that gave them the opportunity to access the full power of teaching and learning,

and that process that we do with such passion that leads them to knowledge and access.

So through my career, starting as an instructional assistant, I would ask the teacher,

can I teach the lesson tomorrow? Will you let me teach it tomorrow? As I was my degree and my

certifications between the two countries, and then I became just focused on becoming part of the

group of professionals that were making decisions for a system that worked for students. And so that's

how I impacted first classroom, and then I said, I now want to impact a school. I want to be in charge

of the experience of 600 students. And then I had the incredible once-in-a-lifetime privilege of

opening a school in a school lab where we were supporting four universities on the preparation

of teaching candidates, and so what a gift. And so again, always with the impetus and the focus

on trying to improve systems that believe in kids, that believe that they are the drivers of change,

and that they are the person in charge of the experience of kids. And then designing systems that

work because they're predictable and they're not accidental. And that made for me now, as a

deputy superintendent in a district that is very diverse and has the gift of 121 languages spoken

in our community. It means that we have to think about coherence. We have to be clear about our

expectations for our leaders. We have to be strategic about the professional learning we're offering

our teachers, and also the way in which we resource our schools so they can work for kids. And then

to close this question again in a community as diverse as our community, we could not wait any

longer for the expansion of dual language instruction. And so we decided to be bold and aggressively

expand. And our community was incredibly supportive when we were clear about the research,

clear about the brain of a multilingual learner, and what happens when you give them the gift

of language and culture and high academic achievement, then the community shifted and now is

they demand, they demand. Which school are we going to next? How many programs are we going to offer?

How many electives are we going to offer in high schools and middle schools for our multilingual

learners? So that is the why that's what keeps me passionate about the work. And then it's all

shaped by my personal experience and the lens in which I approach the world as a multilingual learner

myself. That is incredible. What an incredible story and an incredible journey Olga. I really love the

direct connection that you draw between your own personal experience and wanting to make a

difference and using that as the driver towards deciding and getting yourselves into different

levels of leadership positions like each time. And I love I wrote down that you wanted to be a part

of the decision making process for students that you knew that your own experience could help

actually bridge and bring clarity and bring system change for the students. It's always the

students that we have in mind. And I just love that you had that direct connection.

Because there's another way to do that, which is to say this is not for me, I'm feeling excluded

and accept that kind of barrier that other people were creating. And instead you were like, oh no,

I'm going to make sure I'm going to walk through, I'm going to make a door in this barrier and walk

through it and be part of the change. That's really inspiring. I think everyone on the call

will be inspired by that story and really connect to it. And so thank you so much for sharing that

because we're going to go down into kind of the decision making process and we're going to get

a little bit more in depth. But I think starting from this place of your story is just so important.

And one other thing I would like for you to describe for everyone who's listening and watching

today is your district. How many schools, how many teachers, how many students I want them to

understand that this can be done in a very large system. Yes, absolutely. We have about 39,000

students. We have as many other districts experience that they're planning and enrollment in the

past five years. And then again, incredibly diverse community. We have about 50% of our students who

speak other languages at home, different than English. And we have 65 schools in our system. 42

of those are elementary schools, then 12 middle schools and the rest of the schools are high

schools or our alternative programs. And at the elementary level, we have about 700 teachers,

about 2700 total employees at elementary and then in the system altogether about 5500 employees

who are also fantastic and represent the community we serve. Excellent. Thank you for that.

I just wanted to paint the picture for people who might not be familiar with Salem Kaiser and

how big the system is. And just as again, as an inspiration that if this large system can change

so can yours at any size and any level. So talking about coherence and thinking about

this journey, people often name professional learning as it feels disconnected from daily

instruction. And so how is your team aligned and just thinking down into the classroom with that

very specific teacher and reinforce the daily classroom practice with the vision with the

professional learning? Because oftentimes those two things seem like there's a disconnect.

So really wanting to kind of drop into there for a moment. Yes, thank you. So when you think of

a system as larger as our system, and I know there's many others that are larger, but 65 schools

is a lot of great services to kids. And we really needed to make decisions that impacted the system

and were not just a site by site choice. And this year we have been really bold on the decisions

we have made around literacy. We decided again to make it a system priority and not a site by site

choice. With 42 elementary schools, we have pockets of excellence. We have schools and classrooms

that had evidence-based practices and great outcomes happening for kids, but as our system,

we did not have coherence. So we made a bold decision that was going to get us to not rely on

isolated excellence, but really aligning around a shared understanding of how the brain

learns to read and how the brain about multi-lingual learner learns to read. So we decided to

partner with experts, and this is where I cannot say enough about core and core learning and the

core learning coaches. We have working with us. We've had an incredible experience, incredible

experience, and its transforming our teaching and learning experiences for our kids in Salem

Kaiser. And so we made a big decision. We said, let's partner with experts and let's close schools

for two days. So that was a big ask of our community and our families. And parent with a third day

that we had that was an existing professional development day and have all elementary employees,

all 2,700 people who are facing forward and seeing kids every day to take a break and deeply

engage in learning about literacy and the complex process that it takes to teach a child to read,

the complex process that it takes to help a multi-lingual brain navigate reading into languages,

and then really aligned on the steps to get them there. As a system, we had

some schools that did a training one year, and then that's how we got different outcomes

with those pockets that I'm talking about. We needed to really calibrate and create a

foundational knowledge. And that is when we had 30 core coaches flood the city, and we created

those experiences for our staff. Music teachers, PE teachers, we had experts in dual language

instruction, and we grouped people by areas of expertise and we were all learning about literacy.

So then we got great feedback and we knew it can't be at one time. So then we added the coaching

sessions and we have again coaches coming into schools, providing feedback to teachers,

and the feedback we've gotten from our practitioners and from our schools is just incredible.

And then so number one, it was that interest and that decision to remove the variability on the

why and on the research on how the brain learns to read before trying to start standardizing the

how. We were pushing too hard in the how without building on the why. We got that and now another

big shift we've made is really redefining the role of the principal. We have moved away from the

principles being the building managers and the principles to the principles being the instructional

leader. Thank you for talking about the principles. I'm going to move us to the third question

because that's exactly what we're talking about. And before we talk about the principles as being

you know curriculum leaders, I just want to pause for a moment and say you know I really appreciate

you uplifting the idea and the knowledge of multilingual learners, monolingual speakers,

all learners learning how to read through evidence-based instructional practices. There's not

necessarily a separate thing that happens for a multilingual learner or in your dual

emergence where the evidence-based practices apply across languages and to all the students.

And I just want to uplift that. That's what you know why I think there's so much synergy between

Salem, Kaiser and Corps because that is both of us have the same focus making sure that all the

learners in the classroom, monolingual, multilingual, dual immersion, someone who may have tendency

towards dyslexia, everyone gets the evidence-based literacy instructional practices and then we can

adjust depending on the needs of the students. And so you know Corps having that mission

in vision and Salem, Kaiser having that mission in vision, it's a match made in heaven as they say.

So thank you for uplifting that. And then I interrupted you. You're about to talk about the

principles and how they play a role as instructional leaders. And that just happens to be our question

number three. So I'll pass it back over to you. Thank you. Yes. So for us, our principles are our

sustainability strategy. They, when they are in classrooms consistent, focusing on excellent

academic instruction through classroom walkthroughs, clear feedback, protected teacher collaboration times,

then evidence-based practices stop being an initiative and become the way the school operates.

And we saw it in the poll at the beginning. That initiative fatigue is real. And sometimes we,

as educators, we want to do better, we want to learn more. And so we grab onto the newest thing

and we have to allow our schools to go deep in the one, two or three things that matter most.

Last year and this year, for example, our focus has been clear for schools.

Principles must be the instructional leaders first. And we don't want them to be compliance

monitors. We want them to be instructional leaders. And we needed to protect their time to do that.

I visited a school last a couple of weeks ago that had extraordinary outcomes from the

full benchmark to the winter benchmark. And so I was celebrating and having a conversation with

staff. And I asked them, what was it? What was it? And they said, well, it was teachers observing

teachers, collaboration time, classroom walkthroughs, coaching feedback. And then one of the teachers

said, I think is the discipline focus and intentional work that our principal is putting into

classroom walkthroughs, the feedback we're getting, and then the supports that come with it.

And then this teacher said, I can't say that I love it because there's a lot of it,

but I am going and I am learning. And that honesty to me was powerful. Just think about that

statement and how that speaks so highly of our educators. Growth is not always comfortable,

but reaching a learning is our job and it starts with us building capacity to be better for our kids

and better for our students. And so I see this change happening in our system. And then to get back

to that role of principles and that strategy of sustainability, again, it requires protecting

their time so that they can focus on instruction, allowing them and teaching them how to give

precise feedback on evidence-based practices, how schools celebrate wins with staff, students,

and families, how you share with families the progress that students are making. And then how you

create collaborative structures for teachers to talk about instruction and data, and then also

focus on the teacher's professional goals to improve their supports for kids.

Olga, I just wanted to ask you a question. What about the principles that didn't have a strong

instructional background? What did you do for them or with them to be able to get them to that level?

Yes. It's been such an incredible transformation. We've had some administrators that said,

I don't think I knew how to do this. These were so helpful. I had a couple of people who told me in

day three of the core learning training that we did when we went to school for three days.

And they said, you know what? I was coming to this training a little, not sure, and a little

negative. And now I want more. I'm realizing the things I didn't know. And it's not their fault.

Is that the system starting from sometimes our university preparation. We're not being

explicit with teachers around what it takes to teach a child to read. And it it a complex

process. And so getting back to basics was incredibly valuable. And then it brought up that vulnerable

realization from many teachers and administrators from myself. I stand in front of principles and I

tell them, we have had a year of learning. All of us are in this learning curve. And it's exciting to

share it together because it's going to be better for it. I love that. I love that. So you included

your principles and in the initial training. And then you had also leadership training for them so

that they could really go deep and understand how to what the science and the instruction says.

And then also how to coach. So that's really, really important. I'm going to move us to the next

question. We've talked about it a little bit, which is that you said it and I wrote it down.

Initiative fatigue is real. And so just kind of going back to to that concept of how do leaders or

how what what advice or, you know, words of wisdom you can share with the people who are listening

about how leaders can maintain coherence while honoring the differences in the schools and the

content of the school context in the community, but not constantly add new initiatives.

Yes. I would say number one, we have to decide to stop adding to people's plates. Our educators

are working so hard day in and day out. And sometimes again, with best intentions, we think,

oh, there's this new thing. There's this new thing that we can and it will help us enhance

supports and services for kids and teachers. But by doing that, we stay very superficial.

And so we need to allow schools to go deep into the work that matters most. And for us is access

and that access to knowledge comes with clear goals around literacy for kids.

So and then we have to have just a lot of clarity around the district goals. And then there are

some things that come that are non-negotiables when we're talking about coherence. And some of these

non-negotiables are essential elements of instruction that need to be guaranteed for every student.

So no matter which school they're at, they attend. In our district, again, with 65 schools,

40 of those, 42 of those being elementary schools, we have about 13 mobility rates each year.

Our students are moving between schools frequently. Sometimes they move out of state and then they

come back to us. And because of that, we have a responsibility to ensure that a student who moves

across town can walk into a new classroom on that Monday and still encounter the same high

expectations, the same scope and sequence, the same limited-based grade level instructional practices

that they just experience at their other school. Those are our non-negotiables. Every student

deserves access, the grade level content, strong literacy and math instruction, and teachers

who understand how the brain works and who they are as humans and as people and the access

that they bring to their learning process. Now, at the same time, we have to, we must honor

community context. That is essential. And it's essential in a district that is as lucky as us

to have this incredible diversity. Schools cannot be identical places. They serve different

families, different cultures, different stories and histories. And so families need to feel that

their school reflects and honors who they are. So while we hold tightly to that instructional

guardrail, we allow the space to build their community identity, to build partnerships and to

do those cultural practices that mean so much for students and their families.

So in my mind, systems that work for students have both coherence and a strong sense of belonging.

Coherence comes from that shared instructional commitment. Those shared goals that start from

our strategic planning. And then belonging comes from honoring the unique strengths of each

community. So I believe great leaders, great leadership is about holding both of those truths

at the same time. Olga, do you have an example that you could, that comes to mind for you of a school

that are, you know, in your system that exemplifies this concept of being able to hold the

non-negotiables of, you know, high quality instruction in literacy and math, the asset orientation

to the learners, the students who are coming to school and really understanding them as individuals.

And maintaining that sense of belonging in the context of the community.

Is there a story maybe that you could share that kind of exemplifies this in your district?

Yes, absolutely. I can think of through our dual language expansion and our sharing of, so

something happened. Let me give you a little bit of context for this answer. In Salem,

Kaiser, we had for 25 years a dual language program in seven schools. And what happened is what

happens in a lot of other places. The dual language program was an elite program that invited

access to very few people, parents who could drive kids from one side of town to the other.

There was a lottery system, but our multilingual learners didn't have all the access we needed

for them. And these schools were not in the neighborhoods where our families lived,

where our multilingual families lived. They were in other areas of town that were high,

a little bit higher socioeconomic areas. And most of our families that were multilingual learners

lived in other areas in town. And so we said, let's look at our data. And let's expand our

programming intentionally for the families that it was designed to serve. And so we started

this aggressive expansion and had meetings with the community, had meetings with the staff,

explained the goals of dual language, and something has shifted in our community.

And this speaks to that honoring the community context and the community needs.

There are some schools now where we have maybe four students registered that parents say,

I want them to do English-only instruction, only four in kindergarten. And then when the

people communicate with the families and tells them about the research and tells them about the

brain and the gifts of having more than one language, the parents go, oh, I want that.

I want that. And so these schools are now transforming into complete dual language schools

for all kids, kids that speak Spanish, only kids that come from other countries and

speak three languages already and want to add English and Spanish. And so I think the

principles of these schools have made just an incredible transformational change that comes

from that realization that the community voice matters greatly. And our schools have to be a place

where families feel comfortable or they feel like they are creating something better for their

kids and then for the community. So we have about seven schools where this is really clearly happening

and then more through the city that is developing as we expand.

I love that. And that is the kind of the best definition of multilingualism for all.

Everybody gets to come to school to maintain or learn their first language and learn a second

language. It's open to everybody and everybody's brains are capable of doing that. Learning how to

read, write and speak in two languages at the same time. And I love that everyone from the

principle to the classroom teachers understands how that works and can explain it not only to the

parents, because those are the most important careholders that we are serving and their babies

are really number one, but can also exemplify and work to honor that knowledge in the classroom

on the daily basis. That's a wonderful, wonderful story. So just as we come to our last and final

question, just thinking about leaders and you kind of touched on this and you touched on it all

along the way, but how leaders can protect the literacy work and keep it going in terms of its

strength, its depth, the knowledge as you are also scaling. And you did talk about this. You

talked about it in terms of having the everyone who's front facing to the child, to a student

going through these three days of professional development to create that coherency and have

everyone get the same message at the same time and do the learning together. I think that was one

strong example that you gave us of how that can happen in terms of scaling because you gave us the

example that there were some schools that would receive professional development on this day and

some that would receive it on that day. And so then you would see sort of an imbalance of what

people knew and what they were able to implement. So step one sounded like getting everybody on the

same page. And as you consider and think about how the district is going to continue in this work

and scale necessarily this work across grades, across schools, across roles, what do you think it

needs to be encouraged as they leaders prioritize what they want to maintain the evidence-based

literacy practices and make sure that they last. Yes, so you're right. It starts with alignment.

Alignment to the strategic plan. We anchor everything we do with the strategic plan.

And there we have literacy as a central lever for achieving our goals.

Then it goes to professional learning. We need to make sure that the professional learning

is supporting that strategic priority directly and intentionally. And then classroom expectations

that we have clear expectations for what our teachers are doing, for what principals provide,

for what a walkthrough looks like, for how we're using our partners, our experts, our coaches,

and how they come in interact with staff. And then there are other things that need to be protected

relentlessly. And number one for me is time. We need to protect time for principals to be in

classrooms. We need time for teachers to collaborate, focus on instruction and in data. So we're

creating very structured opportunities for them to do that. We need time for coaching cycles.

We need clarity around time for allocations, for literacy, for language allocations in our dual

language programming, for allocations for math, for interventions. So time is such an incredible

invaluable resource. And we must be clear and disciplined on how we use it. And then for our

district, two other things that are really important, we have stated clearly that schools are the

unit of change. Our district has gone through some complex budget times, as I'm sure many other

districts have. And through every decision, we have committed to protecting schools. We start with

central reductions before we even start talking about a reduction that can impact staffing schools.

We sometimes we've had to get there, but it's the very last resort. If literacy improvement is

our goal, schools must be protected to do that job. And so that's real and that is on our minds as

we make important decisions. And then the last thing I'll say about these is we have to be clear

and unapologetic around the vision and the goals for all of our students and especially for

multilingual learners and for this vision of bilateracy for all. In a district again with the

gift of diversity, like we have at Salem Kaiser, we aim to offer all of our students, the gift of

bilingualism, bilateracy, high academic achievement, and social cultural competence, right? Those

pillars of what dual language instruction is all about. And so as these literacy goals scales,

we must help our staff deepen in their understanding of multilingual development in the brain of

about a lingual child. We have to bring our community around our community of families and

our community of teachers understanding these goals and that everyone has a space in the goals

of multilingualism. Our teachers who are a bilingual and our teachers who are monolingual,

everyone has a space and a very important role. And then we have to ensure that professional

learning reflects that multilingual reality in our district. So scaling and improving is not about

just expanding to expand because we need to, but it really is about creating the right

conditions and protecting those conditions to allow those practices to thrive. And they ultimately

result in outcomes. We're starting to see the shift and the transformation in our system.

And there's a story here for our partners. There's a story here that we're going to tell about

our improvement, our transformation in our children. And in core has been just an incredible partner

to us on that on that bridge. That amazing Olga. One of the I just want to touch back on one of the

things that you said about everybody being part of this bilingual by literacy multilingual

multiliteracy journey. And one thing that I often say is that, you know, for monolingual teachers,

they have the power to give the gift of bilingualism to someone else, even if they themselves

are monolingual. So really, truly, everyone can be part of this journey. And it's creating, as you

said, the context and the conditions so that this can flourish and thrive. I'm going to ask you one

question. You know, you've talked so much about the by literacy bilingual journey and the literacy

journey and making sure that there's a coherence. How did you know? And what were you looking for

when you found core that we were going to be in alignment with the district's vision and mission?

Yes. I think it was the simplicity of going back to basics, going back to the most

clear and foundational understandings of what it takes to teach a child to read.

We were focused on teaching this program because it's a great program for foundational skills.

And we were focused on using these instructional materials because it's great or because it's the

system that we adopted for curriculum and instruction. And we realized very quickly, we need to

get back to basics and calibrate on our understanding. So we can almost build the foundation that

everyone shares. Now it's here. Now we have an end. And again, it was three days. We continue

building on it. Magic is not going to happen because that three-day training. We all know that.

But we're growing and we're moving in the right direction. And so it was that

agnostic view at literacy. You're not attached to a program. Later, when we adopt, you will help us

with that implementation. That is also very clear. But starting with that view of how do we

create clear understanding and get back to basics with all of our staff was incredibly powerful,

incredible powerful. And then I'll add the humanity of the court coaches. They come in learners

themselves. They say, oh, I didn't think about when somebody tells them, you know, this doesn't really

apply or something. He gives them feedback in the moment. They're like, okay, well, let's make

up just it's just spinning. It's just been incredible. Great modeling for teaching, learning,

and reflective practices. Love that. Thank you so much, Olga. I'm going to turn it over to

Kristi. I know that there's lots of questions and comments in our chat. And so she's going to bring

them up. That was amazing. I want to see in the chat your take away what you enjoyed hearing today.

Thank you, Maya and Olga. This has been inspiring. I know I was inspired. I'm sure everyone here

today was. Olga, we're especially grateful for your willingness to share your leadership journey.

And all these full risks you took to really move this work in Salem, Kaiser. Like you are just

making a difference. And it shows more so grateful for you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Oh, wow. Okay. So really quick social media. If you want to get in touch with Maya,

if you want to get in touch with Olga, here's how to do it. If you are interested in learning more

about core, please visit our website at corelearn.com. And I have to throw a plug for

an amazing set series of workshops we've been doing here at core around data and assessment.

So if you're free next week, please join us for our learning lab around diagnostic assessment.

If I could have someone from core put in the registration link, that would be great. If not,

I'll do it while we're doing the Q and A. So we will have that registration link in the chat in

just a few moments. And with that, we're going to take some questions. Okay. So one of these

questions I thought was wonderful. Have you written a book about this? So I think you two need to

get together and write a book on this topic because I think that that was probably a really good

question. That is, that is great. We, and you know, the beauty of this profession is we get to work

with so many incredible people that just make us better. Just these conversations, I've appreciated

so much this conversation. Our relationship with core, our relationship with dual language of

New Mexico, Dr. Jose Medina, like I can name so many, well, no center, Dr. Acatias Camilla, so many

experts that are working on the same goal of incredible experiences for kids. And, and so yeah,

always an opportunity. There's always an opportunity to tell this story together. Absolutely. I'm in.

I'm in. I'm in too. Done. Okay. This is a big topic. You, you spoke about tight budgets,

right? Which we all are very familiar with that in these times. And competing priorities.

What convinced you that investing in literacy improvement was the right focus?

Well, um, literacy is the, um, is the gateway access to everything. It, if we have kids that can't

access knowledge that don't feel comfortable or confident as learners, they're going to struggle.

We know it. We've seen it. And, and that is not what we want for our kids. And so we knew we had

to start with the most basic responsibility that we owe our students. And that is to help them become

great readers. And so that was kind of an easy decision for us. And then from there, the not only

become great readers, but also break the code in a language. For many, many years, English always

was the goal, right? We had something to fix. English, you have to learn English. You have to

learn English. Absolutely. We have to learn English. Um, but you never have to leave behind

the other language. And so for us, it was elevating literacy so that students can have voice,

agency, the ability to shape their future, but also do it in two languages. It is on a amazing

gift and an amazing privilege to be able to negotiate meaning, negotiate knowledge to, to live

in two or three languages to, to know about two or three cultures. And so why wouldn't we,

what wouldn't we explore that for our district? Yes. I love that. And Olga, that's speaking our

language here at core. That is exactly and precisely what we believe, how we approach literacy

instruction. It's why we have, you know, professional learning called, you know, language and

literacy because we know those two things can go together. And so it just, it makes my heart like

grow three sizes because to hear that together, it's just, it's so fabulous.

Okay. Um, Maya, I may start with you on this one, but Olga, we may have to cut her off because she

could go on and on and on. This is a long question. So I'm going to, I'm going to read the whole

thing. Okay. So in our district, there's been some difference of opinion and the research is

an entirely definitive around whether beginning or entering multilingual students should be pulled

out of the classroom for AIS services. I don't know if it translate AIS services. Some staff

feel students need more time to develop oral language for receiving additional reading intervention.

Well, others believe that earlier we intervene, the better we can prevent gaps from widening.

Do you have an opinion on this? Well, my first opinion would be that this is not an intervention.

So learning English is not an intervention activity. Learning English is an opportunity to

become bilingual. So I would, um, I think Olga probably agrees with that. I would just say, you

know, centering the learning of English and creating the context and the causes and conditions

for people to think about that as an opportunity for bilingualism is first and foremost.

And probably can't be overstated. Like I know I'm not talking about the instruction yet,

but I think it's really, really important to understand and approach the learning of English

as an opportunity to become bilingual. And that's what I mean when I say that

monolingual teachers have are in the position to, um, you know, have the power to give the gift

of bilingualism, because even if they're teaching in English and they understand that that's

what's happening, they'll approach it differently. Second, with oral language, oral language is not

an either or, um, proposition. It is something that happens and should happen in every classroom,

every day for all learners, because, you know, all learners coming to school to learn academic

English at that level, they're accessing an English variety that everybody needs to practice,

including the monolingual students. So oral language seen as an intervention activity or

something separate should also be, you know, put in together in the instruction of the day for all

learners. And like Christy said, I can talk about this. I do talk about this in notes and webinars

and, um, you know, presentations, and I can do a whole entire hour on this one question.

So those are my two kind of nuggets to leave with you because I want Olga to weigh in as well.

I agree 100% Maya, and I'll, um, restate, uh, removing students, pulling students, um, out of core

instruction, um, can limit their access to grade level learning, and they need to have that

opportunity to, to participate in those conversations, even if their English is not there yet,

they have knowledge and they are, their brains are working double time. And then it's our

responsibility as adults to help them make those cross-linguistic connections to help them

with very strategic translanguaging to allow them that access and that processing of content

and knowledge. I tell you, we've had, um, some exceptional teachers who teach in fifth grade

most of the day in Spanish and then help students with the transfer. And then when they go in front

of the state testing that is in English, they are outperforming everyone else in that school.

And because knowledge, you access knowledge in the language that you're stronger in and then

it's our responsibility to help them make the transfer, but it all happens there in the context

of the core instruction done. Uh, it's grade level and then it's our responsibility to help them

scaffold with language structures, but never lower that standard for them. So we, um, in Salem

Kaiser, our, um, our, uh, language instruction is, it's embedded within core and then that's how we

build the capacity for our teachers to be the ones helping, um, negotiate that, that, uh, learning for kids.

Awesome. Okay. There's, there's more and I'm trying to choose here. Sorry. Um, okay. This is

really specific. I think this is important for our educators listening. How do you maintain,

maintain seamless literacy instruction when students transfer to different districts or to your

district during the school year? Um, um, again, for us, that is critical in a district with the

mobility we have. Uh, we didn't, we cannot leave the experience of us doing up to chance or up to

neighborhood that they're in. And so it starts with clarity around the expectations on the

instructional practices that need to happen within that literacy block or within that math block.

Um, the use of instructional materials and so right now we just finished a year long process to,

um, pick curriculum and we just finished and we're going to adopt next year. So providing teachers

also with the right materials. Um, and for us, it's a non-negotiable materials that we adopt have

to have resources that are authentic in English and in Spanish. That's our, our partner link.

And then, uh, and then we have to, uh, help our teachers with professional development that

is ongoing, that is differentiated and that, um, it's part of a, um, um, that has a feedback cycle

so we know we're hitting the mark. And if we're not, then we, then we make changes. And, uh,

and then lastly, just continuing to partner with experts that make us better. Uh, all of our dual

language researchers, all of the core learning researchers and coaches that are with us are going to

help us, um, continue making those improvements. Excellent. Well, we are going to have to stop

there because I want to honor everyone's time and I have a couple more slides to wrap us, uh,

to wrap us up here. So thank you again, Olga, for being here. Maya, you lasted the week. Good job.

You did amazing. You know, it's exhausting. You all did wonderful. Thank you both for the

opportunity. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you everyone for

joining us for structured literacy for every learner week. And thank you for taking the time out

of your day. I know that you all are busy to be here with us. Um, you will be able to, um,

access those recordings, um, through the edwebs, uh, edweb.net. Across these last three days,

we heard this consistent message lasting literacy improvement depends on leadership decisions

that connect vision, learning, and classroom practice. And you can go back at any time and view

any of those videos to keep yourself inspired. Don't forget to join the edweb community to get

the recordings and your certificates. And with that on behalf of core and edweb, I want to thank

you all for your commitment to every learner. Thank you, everyone. Bye-bye.

We hope you enjoyed this edweb podcast. If you'd like to receive a CE certificate,

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