Preventing Long-Term ELs: Transforming Schools to Meet Core Standards

Dr. Margarita Espino Calderón, born and raised in Juárez, is a Professor Emerita/Senior Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University. Her research and development projects have been funded by the US Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Labor, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, and various State Offices of Education. One of her empirical studies "The Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC)" is featured in the What Works Clearinghouse. The Carnegie Corporation of New York funded her five-year study to develop Expediting Comprehension for English Language Learners (ExC-ELL) to train math, science, social studies, language arts, and ESL teachers on integrating language, reading, and content in core content middle and high school classrooms. With a Title III National Professional Development grant, she implemented "A Whole-School Approach to Professional Development with ExC-ELL" in Loudoun County, VA. She replicated this approach in 29 schools in TX and NC. She served on the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth, the Carnegie Corporation of New York Panel on English Language Adolescent Literacy Panel, among other panels and national committees. She has over 100 publications on language, literacy, and professional development.

Liliana Minaya-Rowe is bilingual training coordinator at the Hartford Public Schools, where she works in professional development plans and practices for two-way immersion, bilingual, and ESL programs; effective first and second language instruction; teachers' learning communities; and parent/family involvement practices. Minaya-Rowe is also professor emeritus of the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests, publications, and teaching include teacher education, literacy, bilingual program development and implementation, and discourse analysis of bilinguals. She holds a master's degree in Applied Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Education. Minaya-Rowe's 80+ publications include journal articles, books, chapters, teacher's manuals, and guidebooks.