This episode of Highest Aspirations features Carly Spina, an author and passionate advocate for English learners, as she shares her inspiring journey and groundbreaking work. Join us to hear how Carly's upbringing profoundly shaped her deep commitment to ELs, tracing her path from early experiences on Chicago's North Side to becoming a leading voice in education. We'll delve into her impactful work at the Illinois Resource Center, where she dedicates herself to supporting educators in creating m...
Jun 03, 2025•40 min
This episode of Highest Aspirations features Sarah Nandi, Alaina Peterson, and Thomas Hekma—former educators who now work at Ellevation—sharing how their classroom experiences shape the way they support educators across the country. Tune in to hear how their journeys from teaching multilingual learners to working in edtech help them build tools and resources that are relevant, empathetic, and grounded in real classroom needs. Learn how they stay connected to what matters most for teachers and st...
May 20, 2025•22 min
This episode of Highest Aspirations welcomes Alice Collins from the Colorado Department of Education and Dr. Esther De Jong from the University of Colorado Denver to explore the dynamic landscape of bilingual education in the state. Discover the innovative programs designed to support Colorado's growing number of multilingual learners and the crucial initiatives aimed at building a strong pipeline of qualified bilingual educators. Tune in to gain insights into the collaborative efforts between t...
May 06, 2025•50 min
Elise White Diaz, a passionate advocate for trauma-informed multilingual education, joins Highest Aspirations to discuss practical strategies for connecting with and supporting students who have experienced trauma or come from challenging backgrounds. Drawing on her extensive work in diverse settings, Elise emphasizes the power of understanding students' experiences and building trust as foundational elements for effective teaching. This episode explores the impact of trauma on learning and lang...
Apr 22, 2025•55 min
Valentina Gonzalez, a passionate advocate for multilingual learners, joins Highest Aspirations to discuss her collaborative work on Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners and her solo project, Equitable Instruction for English Learners in the Content Area. With a focus on bridging content and language instruction, Valentina shares her experience working alongside renowned educators Drs. Fisher and Frey, highlighting the transformative power of co-authorship and her unique visual approach. Thi...
Apr 01, 2025•46 min
Drs. Margo Gottlieb and Andrea Honigsfeld, authors of Collaborative Assessment for Multilingual Learners and Teachers, join Highest Aspirations to discuss how administrators can support educators in transforming assessment practices. Moving beyond traditional methods, they emphasize the role of school leaders in fostering a collaborative approach that centers multilingual learners and empowers teachers. This episode explores the essential role of administrators in the five phases of collaborativ...
Mar 18, 2025•43 min
Drs. Margo Gottlieb and Andrea Honigsfeld, authors of "Collaborative Assessment for Multilingual Learners and Teachers," join Highest Aspirations to discuss transforming assessment practices. Moving beyond traditional methods, they advocate for a collaborative approach that centers multilingual learners and empowers educators. This episode explores the five phases of collaborative assessment and how they integrate into the instruction cycle. Drs. Gottlieb and Honigsfeld delve into student-led co...
Mar 04, 2025•46 min
An encore episode from season 9 of Highest Aspirations, where we discuss how schools are accommodating English learners with disabilities and the impacts that EL and disability status have on reclassification or exiting with Dr. Sara Kangas. Key questions we address: What impacts have we seen on recent policy changes to reclassification or exiting of ELs with disabilities? How can schools prioritize collaboration and improve their current processes for determining reclassification for SPED ELs? ...
Feb 04, 2025•44 min
Jaime Gonzalez, Bilingual Director at Eagle Pass ISD, joins Highest Aspirations to share how his district fosters success for emergent bilingual students and educators. Located on the Texas-Mexico border, Eagle Pass ISD leverages its unique bicultural and bilingual community to empower students and teachers alike. Jaime discusses grassroots initiatives like the district's bilingual certification academy, leadership development programs, and empathy-driven training strategies that help educators ...
Jan 21, 2025•50 min
English learners with special needs often face significant barriers to accessing appropriate support in schools, and accurate identification is critical to their success. Steve Gill, a seasoned educator, school psychologist, and consultant with over 15 years of experience, joins Highest Aspirations to discuss the Critical Data Process—a framework designed to guide teams in evaluating and supporting dually identified students. Drawing from his extensive work with thousands of educators and school...
Jan 07, 2025•56 min
Newcomer students bring diverse strengths and experiences to their schools but often face unique challenges in adjusting to a new country, culture, and educational system. Amy King and Yvonne Williams from WCEPS join Highest Aspirations to discuss how clear communication, culturally responsive practices, and meaningful family engagement can help schools support newcomer families effectively. In this episode, King and Williams share actionable strategies for building partnerships with families, f...
Dec 19, 2024•56 min
Newcomer students face unique challenges as they adjust to life in a new country, culture, and educational system. Dr. Marie Heath, an international educational consultant with over 30 years of experience, joins Highest Aspirations to share her expertise on acculturation and bicultural identity. Drawing from her own experience as the child of an immigrant and her doctoral research at Texas A&M Commerce, Dr. Heath discusses strategies for helping newcomer students build their bicultural ident...
Dec 11, 2024•48 min
In this episode of Highest Aspirations, Sandra sits down with Rocío Figueroa, Senior Instructional Content Manager at Ellevation, to explore how personalized professional development can transform teaching and learning for English learners. Drawing from her diverse experiences as a teacher, instructional coach, administrator, and consultant, Rocío shares practical strategies for tailoring professional learning to meet the unique needs of educators across content areas and grade levels. They disc...
Nov 19, 2024•36 min
The IMPACT Conference was born out of a desire to bring educators together during a time of unprecedented isolation and challenge. In this episode of Highest Aspirations, Ben McNelly and Steve Sofronas join us to reflect on the journey of the conference—from its inception during the height of the pandemic to its evolution into a dynamic virtual event that continues to serve educators nationwide. They share insights into how the conference has grown to support English learners, the importance of ...
Nov 12, 2024•34 min
Welcome to Highest Aspirations, a podcast dedicated to empowering educators with insights and strategies to support multilingual learners in reaching their fullest potential. In this episode, we’re joined by Cheyen Herseth, an Elementary Multilingual Learning TOSA in Washington State and a WIDA Fellow, who has been instrumental in her district’s transition to the WIDA Framework. Cheyen discusses her experiences leading this shift and how the WIDA Framework and Critical Data Process have reshaped...
Oct 29, 2024•43 min
Welcome to Highest Aspirations, an education podcast focused on providing educators with inspiration and strategies to help multilingual learners achieve their highest aspirations. In this episode, we are joined by Yolanda Rios and Roxanne Rodriguez, leaders at Ellevation Education and co-leads of the SOMOS Employee Resource Group. Yolanda and Roxanne share how their Latinx heritage has shaped their leadership styles and how they’ve used their cultural roots to foster a strong sense of community...
Oct 15, 2024•39 min
Welcome to Highest Aspirations, an education podcast focused on providing educators with inspiration and strategies to help multilingual learners achieve their highest aspirations. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Juana Bordas, author of The Power of Latino Leadership – Ahora! and Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age. Dr. Bordas discusses the vital role family and cultural connections play in shaping leadership within the Latino community. We explore how preserving cu...
Oct 01, 2024•56 min
Welcome to Highest Aspirations, an education podcast focused on providing educators with inspiration and strategies to help multilingual learners achieve their highest aspirations. We have a very special guest with us today, the co-founder of CoolSpeak, Ernesto Mejia. Mejia is the proud son of Mexican immigrants, and a true example of the American dream. Diagnosed with the rare disease of Guillain-Barré (ghee-yan bar-ray) Syndrome at the age of 16 that left him temporarily paralyzed, he was not ...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Welcome to Highest Aspirations, an education podcast focused on providing educators with inspiration and strategies to help multilingual learners achieve their highest aspirations. We have a very special guest with us today, Dr. Rebecca Palacios. This episode is dedicated to all of our educators who are in back-to-school mode and I could think of no one better to get us talking about parent engagement and early childhood education than Dr. Rebecca Palacios. Dr. Palacios is a National Board Certi...
Sep 03, 2024•51 min
Welcome back to Season 13 of Highest Aspirations, an education podcast focused on providing educators with inspiration and strategies to help multilingual learners achieve their highest aspirations. In this episode, Steve and Sandra will be sharing the mic as they talk about change, why it can be intimidating to some and motivating to others, and what’s next for both of us moving forward. They discuss what we can do to mitigate the emotions change can cause, how organizational culture impacts ch...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min
We made it to the last episode of Season 12 - and I couldn’t be happier with our guest and the topics we covered. Dr. Sonia Soltero has been a contributor and collaborator in our community since the very beginning. She is currently working with Chicago Public Schools to help support newcomers, so we are excited to bring her on again to share the experience with others. We cover a lot of ground in our conversation, focusing on… Why educators need additional support and training to address the SEL...
May 14, 2024•37 min
Welcome back to Highest Aspirations, an education podcast focused on providing educators with inspiration and strategies to help multilingual learners achieve their highest aspirations. In this episode, our interview is conducted by Sandra Medrano-Arroya, Ellevation’s National Director of Multilingual Learner Success, who speaks with Sofía Núñez of Empower the Voice. They leverage their vast collective experience as multilingual learner professionals to provide valuable insights on: Partnering w...
Apr 30, 2024•51 min
Welcome back to Highest Aspirations, an education podcast focused on providing educators with inspiration and strategies to help multilingual learners achieve their highest aspirations. In this episode, we zoom out some to talk about what happens after multilingual learners and other students from marginalized communities leave K-12 schools and what we can do to ensure they are equipped to rewatch their highest aspirations. Our guest David Nungaray and I talk about… What the data says about econ...
Apr 16, 2024•39 min
In this week's episode, we're looking closely at teaching and learning academic language with our friends Diane Staehr Fenner and Sydney Snyder. We discuss the need to bring in sociocultural context and background knowledge that our students bring with them. We also get into how we can avoid taking a one-size-fits-all approach and personalize learning to accelerate learning. Of course, Diane and Sydney also share some simple and effective strategies from their book Unlocking Multilingual Learner...
Mar 26, 2024•50 min
What are the primary challenges EL families are facing in their communities and how can programs like FLI address them? How did COVID and other recent challenges in the education world impact absenteeism for students, and how can those issues be repaired? How can we support parents and families to address trauma they have experienced in order to improve their relationships with and outcomes for their children? We discuss these family engagement focused topics and more on this episode of Highest ...
Mar 12, 2024•44 min
On this episode of Highest Aspirations, we explore the importance of building personalized professional learning opportunities that provide educators with opportunities to continuously reflect on their work. Our guests Shélynn (Shey) Riel and Anna Ciriani-Dean provide simple frameworks within an experiential learning cycle designed to improve instruction and reframe negative self-criticism into more constructive, actionable feedback. Shey and Anna produce and host the Teacher The Teacher Think-A...
Feb 27, 2024•50 min
On this episode of Highest Aspirations, we take a deep dive into how professional learning can help create and nurture the skillsets and the mindsets educators need to best serve multilingual learners. We challenge the often idealized assumption that “every teacher is a teacher of language” and explore ways to make that a reality rather than a desired state. We also talk about how effective leadership be used as a means to overcome issues teachers are facing like fatigue, burnout, and working in...
Feb 13, 2024•50 min
What is cultural linguistic responsiveness and what does this look like in action in the classroom? What are some of the biggest challenges facing the school system in becoming more culturally responsive, and what are some steps to take to address them? How can professional development be an effective lever in improving cultural responsiveness in a lasting, sustained way? We answer these questions and more in this interview with Dr. Sharroky Hollie. Dr. Hollie Dr. Sharroky Hollie is a national e...
Jan 31, 2024•51 min
What are cross-linguistic connections, and how can they be used to develop metalinguistic awareness? How can pulling in both English and home languages during instruction actually accelerate learning, among other benefits? How can this holistic approach to language learning lead to biliteracy? We discuss these questions and much more with Dr. Sandra Mercuri, who we met last fall at the La Cosecha conference in New Mexico. Dr. Mercuri is a nationally recognized Educational Consultant in the area ...
Jan 16, 2024•47 min
In this shortened final episode before holiday break, we're sharing out a few highlights from the season and what's to come when we get back. As always, thanks for listening, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and will be back with new episodes January 16th, 2024! Visit https://ellevationeducation.com/el-community for more free content and resources.
Dec 20, 2023•6 min
