Project Background

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and North Carolina Collaboratory are leading a joint $6.73 million effort to spur research on the impact of COVID-19 on student learning in the state, with the goal of helping educators and students recover from pandemic-related disruptions and lost instructional time.

The Strategies and Innovations for Multilingual Learner Success (or ML Success) project is one of the 20 research projects across North Carolina supported through federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) legislation.

This is a partnership research project building upon the existing partnership between the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) and the Multilingual Learner/Title III Program Quality team in the NCDPI Office of Academic Standards.

Project Information

Through this project, we aim at: 1) identifying schools that demonstrated success in supporting multilingual learners (MLs)’ academic development; 2) exploring strategies and innovations that contributed to the support for ML learning; 3) summarizing lessons learned and offering recommendations to inform ML-focused policies and practices.

  • Spring 2023 – Access, organize, and represent ML data
  • Summer 2023 – Identify schools | Form research teams | Prepare protocols

  • Fall 2023 – Conduct school-based interviews and focus groups to explore strategies and innovations for ML success
  • Fall 2024 – Project reporting to offer recommendations for ML-focused policies and practices

Sign up for Updates

In addition to working with state-level data centering on MLs, researchers and educators from institutions of higher education and K-12 schools will be invited to join the research team to engage in school-based research efforts.

FROM INQUIRY TO POLICY WEBINAR FEATURING DR. ESTER DE JONG, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER

Project Team Members

Ye "Jane" He headshot

Professor, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education, School of Education

y_he@uncg.edu

Ivanna Mann Thrower Anderson headshot

Multilingual Learner (ML)/Title III, Education Program Consultant, Office of Academic Standards, NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI)

ivanna.anderson@dpi.nc.gov

headshot of Xatli Stox

Policy & Planning Analyst/WIDA State Relations Specialist, University of Wisconsin-Madison

stox@wisc.edu

Doris Kroiss headshot

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education, School of Education

dakroiss@uncg.edu

Liz Gilbert headshot

Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

etgilbe2@uncg.edu