California’s early elementary classrooms include significant numbers of children raised in multilingual environments. Multilingual learners face inequitable access to linguistically rich instruction, resulting in persistent disparities in language abilities and overrepresentation in special education. Teachers, administrators, parents, and policy makers are seeking effective ways to reduce achievement gaps and more equitably support learning and development for multilingual learners in monolingual classrooms. This session explores the experiences of young multilingual learners in California’s public school classrooms to identify research-based pedagogy and classroom practices that can effectively create more equitable language learning opportunities for multilingual learners. Strategies focus on: Culturally Responsive Supports, Home Language Supports, and English Language Supports.

Drs. Wishard Guerra and Cohen will share findings from our research practice partnership study: Strategies for Teachers of Young Learners of English (STYLE). They utilized a Practice Based Coaching intervention to support implementation of research-based pedagogical strategies to meet the needs of multilingual learners in early elementary classrooms. Transitional Kindergarten teachers Ms. Kristina Jefferson and Ms. Reagan Duncan will highlight the specific practices they use in their classrooms to engage with families from diverse backgrounds, to support home and English language development, and to create a warm and culturally responsive classroom environment.