Supporting English Learners in Schools: Strategies, Data and Insights

How can we better support the educators in Los Angeles County who work directly with English learners—and ensure equity in every classroom? In this episode, we’re joined by Roberta Gonzalez, Project Director III at LACOE’s Multilingual Academic Support Unit, and Dr. Laura Hill-Bonnet, Associate Director at Stanford’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching. Together, they unpack the findings of a new report, Supporting Teachers to Better Serve English Learners, which examines how educators across the County are navigating instruction for multilingual learners.

Grounded in teacher and administrator interviews, the report explores both the promising practices and persistent challenges in English Learning instruction—highlighting a clear need for more time, support and collaborative opportunities. Roberta and Laura reflect on what the data reveals, how it connects to real classroom experiences and what school leaders can do to foster meaningful, lasting change.

Based on the paper: Supporting Teachers to Better Serve English Learners

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About Let Me Add to That: An Education Podcast

Nearly 2 million students and 80 school districts make up the Los Angeles County education system – as you can imagine, the experiences, the success and the challenges vary from district to district as it does student to student. The Let Me Add to That Podcast, presented by the Los Angeles Office of Education will feature education experts including superintendents, administrators, teachers and students themselves who will highlight various hot topics that the county faces on a day-to-day basis. Let Me Add to That is titled and modeled after the inclusion of different perspectives, experiences and challenges, and new episodes will be released on the first Wednesday of every month.

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