Patricia Garcia and Sonja Bloetner implement new curriculum resources at the secondary level
The Case for Adopting New Approaches and Resources for Multilingual Learners
The 22nd-largest school system in the US was facing many challenges and opportunities for improvement. The district had seen a 9% annual increase in the number of Multilingual Learners (MLs) for the past four years. For years, most MLs had received English language development (ELD) instruction at nine ESOL centers, out of 50 secondary schools in the district. However, as the enrollment of MLs surged, that isolated instructional model became unsustainable. “We needed to ensure students had access to language development instruction at their home schools, not in separate silos,” the director of the multilingual education team shared, recalling a conversation with one of the district’s executive directors.
With more than 13,000 MLs enrolled out of over 110,000 students, the superintendent and executive leadership team realized that these segregated ELD instructional programs did not effectively serve the learning needs of the students. Less than 30% of MLs were meeting their English language proficiency (ELP) targets on the WIDA language test (WIDA Consortium, 2020) at the secondary level, and most MLs were unable to score “proficient” on the high-stakes Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) Literacy and Mathematics test. Additionally, district leaders and principals had raised concerns about the lack of rigor of the instructional materials; low quality of instruction, which was not fully aligned with grade-level standards; and low levels of active engagement for MLs in most of their classrooms.
The district leadership also recognized the importance of having MLs woven into the fabric of every school community to provide them with access and opportunities, as well as to ensure that all students were developing their cultural proficiency so that they could become informed global citizens. As the director of multilingual education continued to work on decentralizing the ESOL programs, she realized how important it would be to rethink staffing, curriculum resources, and professional learning for front office staff, school leaders, and teachers alike. Making such changes would not merely result in a different instructional model and a new curriculum rollout but a systemwide journey in collective leadership, professional growth, and cultural transformation.
The Role of Leadership: Implementing New Curriculum Resources
Implementing curriculum resources in schools requires more than selecting the right materials. It requires buy-in from staff and administrators, and collaboration and intentional leadership from the district leadership team. The director of multilingual education recognized that meaningful change would depend on engaging educators, listening deeply to their experiences and needs, and guiding a shared vision for ELD across all grade levels. The director was also committed to securing the appropriate professional development, as well as language-rich, inclusive, high-quality curriculum resources.
To identify core needs, the director and her team began by gathering input from teachers, instructional coaches, and school-level administrators, who highlighted the need for stronger alignment and consistency in ELD instruction. Through school visits and classroom observation, the director witnessed the dedication of the teachers, who worked on a daily basis to design lessons from scratch to meet the diverse needs of their MLs despite inconsistent access to quality instructional materials and professional learning. “Teachers were working hard,” she shared, “but we wanted to make sure they had high-quality, standards-aligned resources to guide them, to alleviate the frustration that they were expressing on surveys and in focus groups.”
The director’s observations reflected what the research has long emphasized about the importance of access to high-quality curriculum resources for MLs: standards-aligned instructional resources are foundational to both academic achievement and language development for MLs, requiring collective ownership to maximize the impact of teaching and learning in every classroom. Specifically, according to Short et al. (2021), effective ELD instruction requires intentional scaffolding, culturally responsive text, and structured opportunities for interaction across the four language domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. When ELD materials are not aligned with grade-level expectations, students are being denied access to grade-level content and opportunities to develop academic language (Calderón, 2020). Therefore, it became a priority to provide the teachers with comprehensive, differentiated resources that enabled them to move beyond fragmented lessons to delivering rigorous and cohesive instruction to all secondary MLs in the district.
Additionally, the director met with principals, department chairs, and teachers to deeply listen to understand the challenges and road blocks that they were facing in their schools. Based on this round of feedback, she prioritized meeting regularly with the principals. To gain their buy-in, she framed the challenge as an opportunity for collective growth and involved principals and teacher leaders in the review process to identify resources that were standards-aligned, with engaging learning activities, to inform effective instructional practices and support the success of the MLs in the classroom.
After a careful review of a variety of curriculum resources, the director and her team decided to adopt a suite of ELD curriculum resources for MLs at all proficiency levels. The goal was simple yet ambitious: to provide coherent, culturally responsive curriculum materials aligned with the WIDA English Language Development Standards and Maryland’s College and Career Readiness English Language Arts Standards in grades 6–12.
The director and team then proceeded to develop an implementation plan that included pacing guidance, professional learning supports, and clear feedback loops. The team worked hard to ensure that feedback informed the implementation process and communication took place regularly with principals, assistant principals, staff development teachers, and department chairs to ensure that all stakeholders had a clear picture of what actions were needed to empower the success of their MLs. They also conducted a full-scale field test of the suite of ELD curriculum resources across all middle and high schools before adopting these curriculum resources as the core ELD program in grades 6–12.
Professional Learning as the Bridge to Teacher Empowerment
With curriculum adoption as the foundation, professional learning became the bridge that carried teachers through the change effort, through monthly professional development sessions co-designed with the publisher (Vista Higher Learning), blended virtual workshops, classroom coaching, and in-person lesson modeling. The goal was transformative yet straightforward: to help teachers use the new curriculum resources effectively and confidently in their classrooms. As such, each session emphasized hands-on learning, teacher voice, and collaboration. Teachers were not passive recipients; they were co-designers of the process.
One memorable session took place at a large suburban high school, where teachers observed an ELD lesson on persuasive writing being modeled. Before the lesson, facilitators previewed the learning targets and demonstrated how the curriculum resources and instructional materials built academic vocabulary around opinion writing. During the observation, teachers noted how even newcomers participated using sentence frames and visual supports. The debrief afterward was electric; teachers shared insights, challenges, and aha moments that rippled across departments.
“The professional learning felt authentic,” said one teacher leader. “We weren’t just being told what to do—we saw what good instruction looks like for our students.” The team was able to schedule similar sessions across middle and high schools based on their implementation data and observations.
Following this modeling session, teachers expressed renewed confidence in being able to integrate the new curriculum into their lesson design. Administrator and teacher feedback made it clear that these sessions provided relevant, high-quality professional learning anchored in authentic examples of excellent ELD instruction aligned to grade-level ELA standards.
Throughout, the instructional specialists played a crucial role, serving as partners modeling lessons, facilitating reflection, and co-planning units alongside teachers. With a focus on collective learning, they also led data review sessions that helped teachers calibrate their instructional lenses. Using the WIDA rubrics, educators analyzed proficiency levels and identified next steps for differentiation and scaffolding.
Further, over time, these collaborative cycles transformed professional learning from a one-time event into a culture of inquiry. ELD teachers became more confident in analyzing formative data, designing instruction responsive to student needs, and aligning lessons to both language and content standards. Most importantly, they began to see themselves not just as implementers of the new curriculum but as instructional leaders making decisions about and shaping what effective instruction for MLs looks like in their ELD classrooms. In short, through this job-embedded professional learning, teachers found their agency.
Early Signs of Impact on the Language and Literacy Development of MLs
“We didn’t want data to be a compliance tool,” the director explained. “We wanted it to be a mirror for learning.” To that end, the Department of Accountability ensured that assessment data flowed seamlessly into the district’s data analytics dashboard, thereby enabling school leaders to review progress during ongoing data meetings. These resources also provided teacher leaders with opportunities to engage in shared inquiry as they analyzed data and planned questioning strategies to coach teachers and improve ELD instruction.
Principals, teachers, and instructional specialists also began to explore effective scaffolds to differentiate instruction and address the language needs of MLs in their four language skill areas, based on students’ current proficiency levels. Additionally, teachers became more confident and were able to plan lessons that addressed the learning needs of their MLs during ELD instruction. As a result of the professional development and coaching, teachers had significantly increased the quality of instruction for MLs at the secondary level.
By the end of the first year, results began to tell a promising story. More MLs met their ELP growth targets than in the previous year, particularly at the middle school level, where the ELD curriculum was implemented most intensively. Comparing trend exit data prior to the implementation of the curriculum and in the first year of implementation, the district exited 3.6% more MLs at the middle school level and 4.2% more MLs at the high school level than the previous school year. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the number of MLs meeting their annual growth targets at the middle school level, with an increase of 6.3%, based on the WIDA data.
Equally important were the qualitative results. Teachers consistently reported greater engagement among students and appreciation for the curriculum’s cultural responsiveness. “Students finally saw themselves in the stories they read,” shared one high school teacher. “That connection makes a huge difference.”
In student focus groups, MLs shared that they enjoyed the speaking and writing activities and found the digital tools intuitive and fun. One newcomer ML reflected on his experience and shared, “Before, I was nervous to speak English in front of others. Now I like it when we talk and share ideas. It helps me feel brave.” Based on the feedback from students and observations about the level of active engagement, the team were encouraged and felt that MLs were better able to focus on mastering the academic language that they needed to be successful in their content classrooms; besides, it was beginning to be evident in the assessment data and grades.
Implementing new curriculum resources is often mistakenly viewed as a technical process in which the district selects materials, purchases resources, and distributes them to schools. However, the team learned that meaningful curriculum implementation is far more complex and deeply human. It is an adaptive process. Although grade-level-aligned curriculum materials are crucial, they cannot change instruction by themselves. What truly matters is how teachers, school leaders, and district teams make sense of these new curriculum materials, adapt them for diverse learners, and integrate them into daily practice. Successful implementation requires a shared belief and vision that MLs deserve rigorous, language-rich instruction grounded in strong pedagogy and aligned to clear academic expectations. Through this work, five key principles emerged to guide leaders in ensuring that MLs experience the high-quality language and literacy instruction they deserve.
1. Curriculum implementation is not solely about programs—it’s about people.
The heart of curriculum implementation is adaptive, not technical. A high-quality program becomes powerful only when educators using it collaborate, share expertise, and take ownership of the work. In this district, content and ELD teachers came together around the WIDA Standards, state expectations, and the new curriculum resources to reinforce language and content learning across classrooms. As teachers partnered more intentionally, MLs experienced consistent academic language support. This principle became clear: Lasting change happens when educators feel supported, prepared, and connected.
2. Data must be humanized and tell a story.
The use of data was a catalyst for the change. Teachers analyzed writing samples, language tasks, and classroom conversations to understand MLs’ developing language skills. Quarterly data discussions focused on questions like “What narrative is emerging about this student’s growth?” and “How is this student using academic language across contexts?” Data use became a powerful tool for telling the story of individual student learning rather than compliance. By humanizing the data, teachers saw strengths that numbers alone could not reveal.
3. Leaders must engage and be visible.
Principals joined classroom walkthroughs, participated in professional learning, and learned alongside their teachers. Their presence sent a powerful message: ML instruction is not the responsibility of a single department but a collective priority. This made a difference. By using observation tools and discussing instructional look-fors with teacher leaders, principals guided the creation of a shared vision of effective ELD instruction. Their leadership visibility provided psychological safety for teachers to take risks, built trust, strengthened coherence, and demonstrated that instructional improvement is everyone’s work.
4. Distributed leadership accelerates success.
The district strengthened implementation by tapping into the expertise of teacher leaders, department chairs, and instructional specialists. From day one, the message was about collective learning and collective commitment. Participating educators became facilitators of learning, leading planning sessions, coaching peers, analyzing student work, and supporting schools across the system. This distributed leadership model expanded the district’s instructional capacity and ensured that curriculum improvements reached every classroom. That is, when multiple leaders share responsibility, implementation becomes more sustainable and responsive.
5. Continuous learning must be embedded.
Finally, the district’s most important realization was that curriculum implementation must be viewed as ongoing work and must be embedded in daily classroom practices. Through continuous feedback loops, surveys, focus groups, classroom observations, and student reviews, teams gathered real-time information and refined their practices to support teachers through direct coaching and modeling in the classroom. Teachers felt supported in trying new approaches, sharing challenges, and celebrating progress. By embedding continuous learning into the process, the district created a culture where improvement was expected, supported, and celebrated.
Equity as the Enduring Bridge to Change
As the second year of implementation is unfolding, the team continues to refine the pacing guides, expand professional learning and coaching supports, and deepen the partnerships between content and ELD teachers. The work has not been without challenges. Teachers have raised important questions about supporting students with interrupted formal education and those with special learning needs. In addition, adjusting curriculum pacing and providing further scaffolds remain ongoing priorities.
Yet these challenges are embraced as part of the system’s continuous improvement cycle—not obstacles, but opportunities to learn together. The team also realizes how critical it is to ensure that there is shared ownership of MLs in content classrooms to improve teaching and learning for MLs across the curriculum.
To continue the work around this improvement effort, the director and the team plan to take specific actions, including the following:
- The district will provide teachers with the opportunity to observe and engage in discourse when trainers deliver model lessons in select schools.
- The school leadership teams, across the district, will integrate ELD data into school improvement planning, ensuring that language growth remains one of the key indicators of equity for MLs in the ELD program and across content areas.
- The team will continue to develop resources to support MLs with special learning needs and MLs with interrupted education in the ELD classrooms.
- The team will continue to make adjustments to the pacing guides to add teacher-created resources to support ELD teachers in a collaborative community across schools, especially for teachers who do not have a counterpart in their own building.
The district’s story about the ELD curriculum implementation is still unfolding, but the message is clear: Transforming outcomes for MLs begins with transforming systems of support. The work demands focus, persistence, and the belief that language is not a barrier but a bridge to learning, belonging, and possibility.
References
Calderón, M. (2020). Teaching Reading and Comprehension to English Learners, K–5: A Framework for Effective Instruction. Corwin Press.
Maryland State Department of Education. (n.d.). Maryland College and Career-Ready Standards. https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/Pages/ELA/MCCR.aspx
Zepeda, S. J. (2019). Professional Development: What Works. Taylor Francis.
Short, D. J., Cloud, N., and Himmel, J. (2021). The ESL Teacher’s Guide to the SIOP Model. Pearson Education.
WIDA Consortium (2020). WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition: Kindergarten–Grade 12. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
Dr. Patricia Garcia is an assistant professor of education at Lasell University. Her scholarship focuses on preparing teachers and administrators to more effectively support multilingual learners. A former school district superintendent, she brings a deep commitment to culturally and linguistically responsive education. Her work explores how policies and practices can be reimagined to advance equity and success for multilingual students.
Ms. Sonja Bloetner serves as the director of multilingual education in a large suburban district in Maryland. She leads district-wide improvement efforts for English language development (ELD) programming for over 13,000 diverse multilingual learners, overseeing curriculum, language services, parent engagement, and the district’s intake center for multilingual learners. She collaborates closely with district and school leaders to ensure multilingual learners graduate on time and are college and career ready.