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Summer 2023 Professional Learning Opportunities

Strengthen leadership and knowledge with research-based professional development designed to help you accelerate learning and improve outcomes.

WestEd’s research-based, whole-person approach, understanding of local contexts, and broad expertise in education and human development, particularly with underserved populations, makes us an invaluable partner to states, districts, and schools nationwide.

Our summer 2023 professional development offerings are full of insights and findings across a range of topics. Teachers and school and district leaders will learn ways to:

  • Assess and respond to student needs in order to deepen understanding
  • Implement research-based instructional and leadership strategies
  • Accelerate learning for all students

English Learners and Migrant Education Services

Are you trying to provide quality opportunities to learn and advance for all students? Do you want to learn new ways of supporting them as they engage in learning? Does your school or district have classes with students who have a wide range of English proficiencies?

Every summer QTEL holds professional development institutes for educators focused on the development of educator expertise to engage English Learners and all other students in deep, generative learning.

During the institutes, you will have the opportunity to experience and understand powerful models of learning that cultivate global competencies and academic development for English Learners and all other students.

Quality Teaching for English Learners

In-Person Dates and Locations

  • June 12-16: Oahu, Hawaii
  • July 17-21: Santa Cruz, California
  • August 7-11: Washington, D.C.

Our Keynote Presenters

Dr. Aída Walqui

Dr. Aída Walqui,
Director, National Research and Development Center to Improve the Education of English Learners in Secondary Schools

Dr. Amanda Kibler

Dr. Amanda Kibler,
Professor, College of Education at Oregon State University

Dr. Nelson Flores

Dr. Nelson Flores,
Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania

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Special Education

Supporting English Learners with Disabilities

How can educators of English Learners best determine the when, why, and how of effective instruction and intervention? How do they know when it is appropriate to begin the process to identify whether an English Learner might have a disability? WestEd aims to support the teaching and learning of English Learners with disabilities with two summer offerings:

Online Institutes and Dates

student and teacher

What Previous Participants Are Saying

This training has helped me to prepare for working with a duly identified student in EC and EL. I am very appreciative of all the information on modifications/accommodations I can use to help this student and give support to them throughout their remaining time at our school.

The resources provided were top notch and I will utilize them all. I also thought that using the learner profile and IEP goals and developing adaptations based on that was a great exercise.

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Strategic Resource Management

School Finance Training for School and District Leaders

Meeting federal grant requirements effectively and efficiently can help you accelerate student learning and success. This summer, boost your knowledge of how to meet grant requirements with the School Finance Training for School and District Leaders hosted by WestEd, a NASBA-certified continuing professional education (CPE) sponsor.

This interactive fiscal compliance training will help district and charter school administrators, business officers, and program directors establish and improve practices needed to comply with complex federal requirements, including:

  • Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
  • Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
  • Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)
  • Uniform Grant Guidance (UGG)

two instructors talking

In-Person Dates and Location

  • San Francisco, California:
    August 9, 10, 11

Our Presenters

Anthony Mukuna

Anthony Mukuna is a Senior Program Associate for Special Education and School Finance at WestEd. Mukuna is a recognized expert in accounting and finance with experience working with local and state entities.

Sara Doutre

Sara Doutre is a recognized expert in special education policy and finance. She leads accountability and finance work as a Senior Project Director on WestEd’s Special Education Policy & Practice team.

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Literacy

Reading Apprenticeship

Reading Apprenticeship services are proven to support teaching and learning across a range of demographics and educational settings. Several decades of research demonstrate that the Reading Apprenticeship approach results in more engaging and effective teacher assignments with significant impact on student literacy and overall test scores.

Reading for Understanding

All participants of our summer professional learning offerings will receive the new edition of Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms. The new third edition of the landmark book in the field of adolescent literacy contains strategies for boosting the reading independence of middle, secondary, and college students.

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Reading Apprenticeship in College Writing Online
In this course, participants use the Reading Apprenticeship framework and routines to consider threshold concepts in the field of writing studies while historicizing the field to understand our place in a larger, well researched, and resourced context.

Online Dates

  • June 12-August 4

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Reading Apprenticeship 101 Online
Reading Apprenticeship 101 is a facilitated asynchronous learning experience that provides a solid foundation in the Reading Apprenticeship Framework’s four dimensions of learning—social, personal, cognitive, and knowledge-building—and the development of these interacting dimensions through metacognitive conversation.

Online Dates

  • March 13-April 28
  • June 12-July 28

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Reading Apprenticeship Essentials I Online and In-Person
A learning experience designed to introduce teachers to the Reading Apprenticeship framework, Reading Apprenticeship Essentials I gets you and your team started with new ways to create a positive learning community with student strengths and texts at the center. Both tracks, online or in-person, provide a solid foundation in the Reading Apprenticeship framework’s four dimensions of learning—social, personal, cognitive, and knowledge-building—and the development of these interacting dimensions through metacognitive conversation.

Online Dates

  • June 26-November 30
  • July 25-November 30

In-Person Dates and Locations:

  • June 20-22: Livonia, MI
  • June 26-28: San Francisco, CA

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Reading Apprenticeship Essentials II Online or In-Person
In Essentials II, the follow-up course to the foundational Essentials I, you will explore cognitive and knowledge-building routines they can embed in their instruction to increase students’ abilities to mobilize personal schema and build knowledge about disciplinary text, language, and concepts.

Online Dates

  • July 25-27

In-Person Dates and Locations:

  • June 29-30: San Francisco, CA

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