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Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners

Guest(s): Debbie Zacarian
Date: 10/10/2022
Run time: 37:55
Season 4, Episode 4

In this episode, Debbie Zacarian shares updates in the world of educating multilingual learners. This research includes a more nuanced understanding of the socicultural underpinnings of language development, a shift from deficit to asset-based models that affirm the value of multilingualism, a greater appreciation of the importance of both culturally responsive instruction and more. Debbie proposes a thorough revision to address all these developments that keeps the needs of multilingual students front and center.


Debbie Zacarian Photo

Debbie Zacarian

Dr. Debbie Zacarian, founder of Zacarian & Associates, provides professional development, strategic planning, and technical assistance for K-16 educators of culturally and linguistically diverse populations. She has served as an expert consultant for school districts, universities, associations, and organizations including the Massachusetts Parent Information Resource Center and Federation for Children with Special Needs.

Debbie has worked with numerous state and local education agencies and written the language assistance programming policies for many rural, suburban, and urban districts.  Debbie served on the faculty of University of Massachusetts-Amherst where she co-wrote and was the co-principal investigator of a National Professional Development grant initiative supporting the professional preparation of educators of multilingual learners.  Debbie also designed and taught courses for pre- and in-service administrators and teachers on culturally responsive teaching and supervision practices, multilingual development, and ethnographic research.  In addition, she served as a program director at the Collaborative for Educational Services where she provided professional development for thousands of educators of multilingual students and partnered with Fitchburg State University in co-writing and enacting a National Professional Development initiative that supported STEM education. Debbie also directed the Amherst Public Schools bilingual and English learner programming where she and the district received state and national honors. 

The author of more than 100 publications, her most recent professional books include: Beyond Crises: Overcoming Linguistic and Cultural Inequities in Communities. Schools and Classrooms; Responsive Schooling for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students; Teaching to Empower: taking action to foster student agency, self-confidence, and collaboration; and Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students living with Trauma, Violence and Chronic Stress.  

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Peter M. DeWitt Photo

Peter M. DeWitt

  Peter M. DeWitt, EdD is a former K–5 teacher (eleven years) and princi­pal (eight years). He is a school leader­ship coach who runs competency-based workshops and provides keynotes nationally and internationally, focus­ing on school leadership (collaborative cultures and instructional leadership), as well as fostering inclusive school climates.

Additionally, Peter coaches school-based leaders, directors, instructional coaches, teacher leaders, and school-based leadership teams both in per­son and remotely. In summer 2021 Peter created a yearlong on-demand asynchronous coaching course through Thinkific where he has fostered a community of learners that includes K–12 educators in leadership positions.

Peter’s work has been adopted at the state and university level, and he works with numerous school districts, school boards, regional networks, and ministries of education around North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the UK.

Peter writes the “Finding Common Ground” column for Education Week, which has been in circulation since 2011. In 2020 Peter co-created Education Week’s “A Seat at the Table” series, where he moderates con­versations with experts around the topics of race, gender, sexual orienta­tion, research, trauma, and many other educational topics.

Additionally, Peter is the editor for the Connected Educator series (Corwin) and the Impact series (Corwin), which include books by Viviane Robinson, Andy Hargreaves, Pasi Sahlberg, Yong Zhao, and Michael Fullan. He is the 2013 School Administrators Association of New York State’s (SAANYS) Outstanding Educator of the Year and the 2015 Education Blogger of the Year (Academy of Education Arts & Sciences), and he sits on numerous advisory boards. Peter is the author, co-author, or contributor of numerous books, including the following:

·       Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students (Corwin, 2012)

·       School Climate Change (co-authored with Sean Slade; ASCD, 2014)

·       Flipping Leadership Doesn’t Mean Reinventing the Wheel (Corwin, 2014)

·       Collaborative Leadership: Six Influences That Matter Most (Corwin/Learning Forward, 2016)

·       School Climate: Leading With Collective Teacher Efficacy (Corwin/Ontario Principals Council, 2017)

·       Coach It Further: Using the Art of Coaching to Improve School Leadership (Corwin, 2018)

·       Instructional Leadership: Creating Practice Out of Theory (Corwin, 2020)

·       10 Mindframes for Leaders: The Visible Learning Approach to School Success (edited by John Hattie and Ray Smith; Corwin, 2020)

·       Collective Leader Efficacy: Strengthening the Impact of Instructional Leadership Teams (Corwin/Learning Forward, 2021)

Peter’s articles have appeared in educational research journals at the state, national, and international level. His books have been translated into four languages.

Some of the organizations Peter has worked with are the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), Arkansas State University, EDUTAS, University of Oklahoma, Victoria Department of Education (Australia), University of Rotterdam (Netherlands), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA), Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), the National Education Association (NEA), New Brunswick Teacher’s Association (Canada), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), Education Scotland (Scotland), Glasgow City Council (Scotland), Kuwait Technical College (Kuwait), the National Association of School Psychologists, ASCD, l’Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontariennes (ADFO), the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario (CPCO), the Ontario Principals’ Council (OPC), National School Climate Center, GLSEN, PBS, NPR, BAM Radio Network, ABC, and NBC’s Education Nation.


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Related Titles

Featured Publication
Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners - Booksphoto
Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners
A Comprehensive Guide for Educators

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