Multilingualism for All
What if all students had the opportunity to become multilingual?
Multilingualism, and the body of evidence that supports it, holds the key to unlock student achievement, close inequities, and propel our nation’s global leadership. The Multilingualism for All program seeks to aid in the rewiring of the education system’s understanding and conceptualization of language and demonstrate that providing all students with a strong Multilingual Learner (MLL) program has great potential to unlock students’ cognitive strengths. Building on the strengths of current MLL programs and recognizing the existing limitations of scaling high-quality programs, Multilingualism for All will explore language delivery models, technology, and AI to eliminate barriers and investigate efficiencies.
Dr. Brenda Calderon was most recently the Chief of Staff for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education where she led a $21billion portfolio for PreK-12 education and 300 employees. She previously served as Senior Advisor, where she led the Department’s policy agenda on innovative assessment systems. Before joining the Department, she was the Senior Director for Policy at New Leaders. In her first tour at the Department, she oversaw millions of dollars in state grants to support schools with low-income students, support services for English learners and improve teacher professional development. Firmly committed to equity in education, she began her career in policy advocacy as a Senior Education Policy Analyst at Unidos U.S., formerly known as National Council of La Raza where she served as the lead negotiator for the organization during the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. She is a former English learner, ESL teacher, and was the first person in her family to attend college. She holds a BA in political science from UCLA, MA in education from Loyola Marymount University, and a PhD in education policy from George Mason University.