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Professional Learning

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Professional Learning

Office Hours and training activities are designed for Pennsylvania educators and students or faculty members in PA institutions of higher education. Participants must register with their respective education institution’s email address.  

  • PDE Office Hours

    Facilitator:
    Bob Measel, Title III Director and Bilingual Education Advisor, Pennsylvania Department of Education and Julia Puza, Bilingual Education Advisor, Pennsylvania Department of Education
    Description:
    PDE's English Language Development Office Hours is an open forum for educators across the Commonwealth to engage in Q&A with PDE staff, content experts, and ELD colleagues across the state. All educators in PA LEAs are encouraged to attend, including ESL Specialists, PreK-12 content teachers, building and district level administrators, paraprofessionals, specialists, and Intermediate Unit personnel. Office Hours are not eligible for Act 48 continuing education credits.
    Act 48 Eligible:
    No
    Intended Audience:
    All PA Educators and Administrators

  • EL Accountability and the Future Ready PA Index

    Description:

    This tutorial is meant to introduce you to the Future Ready PA Index (FRI) and how the EL Indicator in the FRI is calculated.

    Act 48 Eligible:
    2 hours
    Registration:

  • English Learner Reclassification Tutorial

    Description:

    This tutorial is meant to help you plan for reclassification.

    Act 48 Eligible:
    2 hours
    Registration:

  • New EL Coordinator Training

    Description:

    This tutorial is meant to help you plan for meeting your responsibilities as an EL Coordinator and for implementation of your language instruction educational program (LIEP). When you complete this tutorial, you should have a collection of resources including the information that is covered along with your notes, a plan for addressing areas that need attention, and contacts for assistance if needed.

    Act 48 Eligible:
    2 hours
    Registration:

  • The EL Screening, Identification, and Placement Process

    Description:

    This tutorial will cover the EL screening, identification, and placement process.

    Act 48 Eligible:
    2 hours
    Registration:

  • ELD Coordinators Training

    Facilitator:
    Bob Measel, Title III Director and Bilingual Education Advisor, Pennsylvania Department of Education
    Description:
    This training is designed to provide an overview of policies and procedures for ELD Coordinators. English Learners are a growing population in Pennsylvania and a far greater number of districts enroll ELs now than in the past. Many districts are tasked with meeting the needs of this unique population for the first time. The success of ELs in meeting growth and attainment targets for English proficiency is a state and federal priority, codified in both the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the Pennsylvania Consolidated State Plan for ESSA. Content for this webinar will include:
    • Overview of the state accountability system, approved by the USED under ESSA for Title I, which includes an indicator dedicated specifically to ELs’ progress toward and ultimate on-time attainment of English proficiency
    • Introduction to the PA Future Ready PA Index that provides an annual calculation of percent of ELs in each school who are achieving their individual targets for language growth and attainment
    • Overview of requirements of the Language Instruction Educational Program (LIEP) to ensure compliance with federal and state requirements for design and implementation as well as quality and success
    • Overview of other systems and procedures that ELD Coordinators are required to know and manage
    • An orientation to the District EL Administrator/Coordinator Handbook
    Act 48 Eligible:
    3 hours
    Intended Audience:
    This workshop is designed for ELD administrators/coordinators. School principals are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
    Registration:

  • Rooted in Strength: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Translanguaging

    Facilitator:
    Andrea G. Kolb, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Education Officer at WITF, Inc.
    Description:
    We are in an era of great debate about the role of culture in school learning. Recognizing culture as a cognitive construct means that culturally responsive teaching is not an intervention or a specialized program but, rather, is directly rooted in learning theory, the same theory that applies to translanguaging. In this workshop, we will think about how culture and language are inextricably connected and inherently tied to prior knowledge, building background, vocabulary acquisition, and sensemaking. We will explore the intersections of culturally responsive teaching and translanguaging pedagogy to create truly student-centered classroom practices that affirm and leverage students’ diverse linguistic and cultural frames of reference and practices in order to teach them.  
    Act 48 Eligible:
    1.5 hours
    Intended Audience:
    K-12 ELA teachers, Reading Specialists, PreK-12 ESL Specialists, school and district administrators  
    Registration:

  • WIDA: Expanding Reading Instruction with Multilingual Learners

    Facilitator:
    Christina Nelson (WIDA)
    Description:

    This series of two webinars and online resources provides ideas for expanding reading instruction to make it more effective for multilingual learners. Participants will learn ways to build on and expand current approaches to teaching reading and to engage multilingual learners in the interactions that support reading development. By engaging in this workshop, participants will be able to:

    ·        Name important qualities of expansive reading instruction for multilingual learners

    ·        Identify key information about how reading develops for multilingual learners

    ·        Identify one way to shift reading instruction to be more expansive and inclusive for multilingual learners   Webinars will not be recorded. This course takes place in WIDA’s Canvas platform. Once registering, you will be enrolled in the Canvas course, where you will go to participate in all aspects of the workshop.
     Live Webinar 1: November 11 | 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
    Live Webinar 2: November 18 | 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
     UPLOAD YOUR CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

    Act 48 Eligible:
    3 hours. Educators must complete all aspects of the workshop and submit their WIDA certificate of completion to be awarded Act 48 credits.
    Intended Audience:
    This virtual workshop is designed for any educator interested in supporting reading for multilingual
    Registration:

  • WIDA: When Language and Disability Meet: Planning Instruction to Support Multilingual Learners Who Are Dually Identified

    Facilitator:
    Emily Kurth (WIDA)
    Description:
    In a series of two live webinars, educators will explore planning practices that support language development and accessibility through the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines while identifying collaboration practices that support the development of shared responsibility and advocacy. This offering is currently being designed and developed. An updated description with more detail will be available as design and development continues. Prior to the workshop, participants will receive information about online learning activities to complete prior to the first webinar and will have learning opportunities between the two webinars. Access to online resources to support implementation will be available following the workshop. Webinars will not be recorded. This course takes place in WIDA’s Canvas platform. Once registering, you will be enrolled in the Canvas course, where you will go to participate in all aspects of the workshop.
     Live Webinar 1: December 2 | 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
    Live Webinar 2: December 9 | 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

    UPLOAD YOUR CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

    Act 48 Eligible:
    5 hours. Educators must complete all aspects of the workshop and submit their WIDA certificate of completion to be awarded Act 48 credits.
    Intended Audience:
    This workshop is designed for K-12 educators who work with multilingual learners who are dually identified for language and disability.
    Registration:

  • Developing Language Through Content: Designing ELD Curriculum Within a Collaborative Framework

    Facilitator:
    Andrea G. Kolb, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Education Officer at WITF, Inc. Bob Measel, Title III Director and Bilingual Education Adviser, Pennsylvania Department of Education
    Description:
    School districts across the nation have been charged with transitioning from offering ELD or ESL as an intervention or ad hoc support service to a robust and intentionally designed instructional program. Leveraging a deep understanding of the WIDA Standards, WIDA Key Uses, and educational linguistics, this session outlines Pennsylvania's approach to collaboratively developing an ELD curriculum that intentionally centers on the academic language of school within the core academic disciplines.
    Act 48 Eligible:
    up to 4 hours
    Intended Audience:
    Teams of teachers in WIDA grade bands (K, 1st, 2nd-3rd, 4th-5th, 6th-8th, 9th-12th) including classroom teachers and ESL specialists.
    Registration:

  • WIDA Professional Learning Self-Paced Courses

    Description:

    We are excited to once again be able to offer all PA educators access to WIDA’s full catalogue of online self-paced (asynchronous) courses! The following courses will be available beginning September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025. 

    • Developing Language for Learning in Mathematics
    • Engaging Multilingual learners in Science: Making Sense of Phenomena
    • Exploring the WIDA PreK-3 Essential Actions
    • Let's Play! Multilingual Children's Joyful Learning in Pre-K-3 (New)
    • Making Language Visible in the Classroom
    • Newcomers: Promoting Success through Strengthening Practice
    • Reading Comprehension Across Content Areas with Multilingual Learners (New)
    • Reframing Education for Long-term English Learners
    • Teaching Multilingual Learners Social Studies through Multiple Perspectives (New)
    • The WIDA ELD Standards Framework: A Collaborative Approach
    • WIDA Español: Desarrollando el español: Las epectativas del lenguaje (New)
    • WIDA Español: Evaluaciones del desarrollo del lenguaje a nivel del salón - Classroom assessment for language and development (New)
      UPLOAD YOUR CERTIFICATE(S) OF COMPLETION *Please note that Act 48 credits will be processed monthly. All certificates must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on August 31, 2025.
    Act 48 Eligible:
    Yes, various
    Registration:

  • Reclassification Training Module

    Description:

    This training resource is meant to help educators use Rubric 1 (Speaking, Listening, Interaction, and Reading) to complete evaluations of their ELs’ language use for reclassification by providing video examples of students using language at various grades and proficiency levels. This training also provides additional criteria and resources that can be used in conjunction with reclassification Rubric 1 to help in decision-making.

    Please review the Reclassification, Monitoring and Re-designation of ELs guidance at www.education.pa.gov/englishlearners prior to completing this training.

    Act 48 Eligible:
    No

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