Academic Language Mastery: Vocabulary In Context - Tapa blanda

By now it’s a given: if we’re to help our ELLs and SELs access the rigorous demands of today’s content standards, we must cultivate the “code” that drives school success: academic language. Look no further for assistance t

Margarita Calderón, a native of Juárez, Mexico, is Professor Emerita and Senior Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Graduate School of Education.  She is President/CEO of Margarita Calderón & Associates, Inc. 

Margarita has served on several national panels, among others: the National Research Council’s Committee on Teacher Preparation; the U.  S.  Department of Education Institute for Education Sciences’ National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth; the Carnegie Adolescent English Language Learners Literacy Panel; and the California Pre-School Biliteracy Panel.

She was principal investigator in three five-year studies on Expediting Reading Comprehension for English Language Learners (ExC-ELLTM) Programs, one that focuses on professional development of science, social studies, and language arts teachers in New York City’s middle and high schools, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York; and two other studies, the Bilingual Cooperative Reading and Composition (BCIRC) in El Paso, Texas, and another funded by the U.  S.  Department of Education in the Pacific Islands for fourth- and fifth-grade teachers and students, and in middle and high schools in Alaska.

She was co-principal investigator with Robert Slavin on the five-year national randomized evaluation of English immersion, transitional, and two-way bilingual programs, funded by the Institute for Education Sciences.

She has published over 100 articles, chapters, books, and teacher training manuals and is invited to present at national and international conferences and professional development events.

Ivannia Soto, Ph.D.

Dr. Ivannia Soto is Professor of Education at Whittier College, where she specializes in second language acquisition, systemic reform for English language learners (ELLs), and urban education. She began her career in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), where she taught English and English Language Development to a population made of up 99.9% Latinos, who either were or had been ELLs. Before becoming a professor, Dr. Soto also served LAUSD as a literacy coach and district office administrator. She has presented on literacy and language topics at various conferences, including the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), the California Association for Bilingual Association (CABE), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the National Urban Education Conference. As a consultant, Soto has worked with Stanford University’s School Redesign Network (SRN), WestEd, and CABE, as well as a variety of districts and county offices in California, providing technical assistance for systemic reform for ELLs and Title III. Soto has authored and co-authored seven books, including The Literacy Gaps: Building Bridges for ELLs and SELs; ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change, which was recognized by Education Trust-West as a promising practice for ELLs in 2018; From Spoken to Written Language with ELLs; and the Academic English Mastery four-book series. Together, the books tell a story of how to systemically close achievement gaps with ELLs by increasing their academic language production across content areas. Soto is Executive Director of the Institute for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching (ICLRT) at Whittier College, whose mission it is to promote relevant research and develop academic resources for ELLs and Standard English Learners (SELs) via linguistically and culturally responsive teaching practices.