In 2025, the English Learners Success Forum (ELSF) partnered with Rivet Education to co-create a new badge for the Professional Learning Partner Guide (PLPG) designed to spotlight professional learning providers with demonstrated expertise in supporting multilingual learners (MLLs). This badge identifies providers whose professional learning offerings are intentionally grounded in research-based practices that accelerate language development and strengthen content learning for multilingual students. In this interview, you’ll hear from Dr. Chalon Jones, Instructional Specialist from ELSF, about why the badge was needed, how it was developed, and its potential to impact the professional learning field.
Q: Introduce us to ELSF and its mission.
ELSF is dedicated to ensuring that every MLL engages in instruction that enables them to thrive academically and pursue their own path to success. To advance this mission, ELSF works to expand educational equity by increasing the availability of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) that intentionally center and leverage MLLs’ cultural and linguistic assets.
What strengths do you often see in instruction when it comes to MLLs?
We are seeing meaningful growth in how MLLs are supported and affirmed within their learning communities. Curriculum developers are increasingly embedding culturally and linguistically responsive supports directly into instructional materials. These embedded supports include structured student conversation routines, generative sentence starters that promote extended academic discourse, intentional encouragement of home language use, and “look for/listen for” guidance that helps educators respond strategically to students in real time.
These features enable school-based instructional leaders to better recognize and build on the diverse assets MLLs bring to the classroom. As a result, leaders are more effectively leveraging curriculum-embedded supports to address the varied strengths and needs of their MLL populations.
In classrooms, more teachers are adopting asset-based approaches that treat students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds as resources for both content and language learning. Through curriculum-based professional learning focused on implementing HQIM with MLLs in mind, educators are building collaborative systems and structures that strengthen support for MLLs. They are increasing their ability to evaluate and adapt HQIM implementation to ensure language development is integrated with access to rigorous, grade-level content. They are also creating more opportunities for MLLs to engage in structured academic discussion, reasoning, and meaning-making.
An Multilingual Learner Badge–earning professional learning provider as the knowledge and skills to intentionally develop and strengthen these capacities within schools and districts.
Q: What weaknesses or gaps do you often see in instruction when it comes to MLLs? What knowledge and skills are educators missing?
Despite improvements in how instructional materials intentionally address the assets and needs of MLLs, significant gaps in instruction remain. Many teachers and instructional leaders report feeling underprepared to effectively support MLLs. In a recent collaboration with researchers at San Diego State University, we found that 70% of teachers do not feel prepared to teach MLLs, 64% do not regularly use district- or school-provided materials, and 80% do not believe their materials adequately support practices known to improve outcomes for MLLs.
One persistent gap is at the systems level. During curriculum adoption processes, districts do not always clearly vocalize their priorities for the needs of MLLs. This is often because of the assumption that high-quality, MLL-inclusive materials do not exist or a lack of understanding of what makes instructional materials responsive to MLL language and content needs. Some still aren’t aware of the significant impact curriculum choices have on MLLs’ access to grade-level content. Research consistently shows that selecting and implementing a strong, standards-aligned curriculum can meaningfully improve student outcomes, particularly for MLLs.
At the instructional level, MLLs are still too often treated as a homogenous group defined by perceived deficits, rather than as diverse individuals who bring rich linguistic, cultural, and experiential assets to the classroom. In addition, their needs are often seen as an add-on or afterthought. Many educators also lack the knowledge and skills needed to evaluate, adapt, and implement HQIM in ways that support both language development and content learning. While educators may value high-quality materials, they often struggle to identify them. As a result, teachers and leaders may rely heavily on supplemental or stand-alone materials that unintentionally isolate MLLs from rigorous, grade-level instruction and meaningful engagement with their peers.
These gaps point to a critical need for core curriculum that intentionally integrates language development with content learning, rather than relying on add-on interventions. Equally important is curriculum-based professional learning led by providers with expertise in MLLs, ensuring educators are equipped to use materials as designed to support the fastest-growing student population in our schools.
Q: How did you become involved in the Multilingual Learner Badge development?
ELSF previously served as an informal thought partner to support the increased quality of professional learning providers that center the assets and needs of MLLs. Both of our organizations know that curriculum-based professional learning is critical to ensuring successful implementation and meeting the needs of MLLs through HQIM.
Through our work with state and local education agencies, we’ve seen the importance of up-front planning for MLLs. Multilingual learners are the fastest-growing student population across most states, and it has become a priority for instructional leaders to have curriculum-based professional learning that prepares teachers to meet their needs. When ELSF has worked with professional learning providers, we recognized that many struggled to adapt their curriculum-based professional learning to be truly inclusive of the needs of MLLs. We saw a lack of learning opportunities that emphasize the integration of content development and language learning through targeted assessment of language and content objectives. Often, curriculum-based professional learning is focused on tracking content learning and leaves out the need for language learning to occur simultaneously.
That made us wonder how we could support these partners in strengthening their programming to be inclusive of all learners. This badge will allow those with demonstrated expertise in MLL-inclusive CBPL to stand out in the field and make it easier for state and local education agencies to use their limited funds for professional learning that helps all learners, including MLLs, thrive.
Q: Why was it important to create a badge that certifies professional learning providers specifically in supporting MLLs?
We frequently hear from districts that have seen promising results from HQIM implementation for general education students yet have not realized the same gains for MLLs. These leaders are seeking providers who not only understand HQIM implementation broadly but who also know how to use curriculum effectively to meet the unique needs of MLLs.
The Multilingual Learner Badge was created to signal that a provider’s professional learning goes beyond general curriculum implementation and intentionally builds educator capacity to integrate language and content, leverage students’ cultural and linguistic assets, and ensure access to rigorous, grade-level learning from day one.
Without this distinction, decision-makers are left to assume that all HQIM-aligned professional learning will naturally meet the needs of MLLs. Too often, that assumption results in professional learning that centers general instructional shifts but does not address how teachers should adapt planning, scaffolding, formative assessment, and collaborative structures to support language development alongside content learning. The consequence is predictable: teachers are underprepared to meet the needs of MLLs, and students continue to experience watered-down tasks or uneven access to rigorous instruction.
The badge clarifies what is at stake. It helps districts identify providers who explicitly design professional learning to move educators away from deficit perspectives and toward asset-based, student-centered practices that improve outcomes for MLLs—not as an afterthought, but as a central design principle.
Q: Can you walk us through your role in co-developing this badge with Rivet?
In partnership with Rivet, the ELSF team played a central role in identifying the highest-leverage skills and indicators that professional learning providers must demonstrate to show meaningful expertise in supporting MLLs. Together, we defined a set of observable, rigorous indicators designed both to push the field forward and to surface existing bright spots in curriculum-based professional learning.
We were intentional about ensuring that each indicator was distinct, explicit, and clearly articulated. This clarity helps providers understand the bar for quality when applying for the Multilingual Learner Badge while also enabling Rivet’s reviewers to consistently and accurately identify evidence of MLL expertise across providers in their network. By naming specific, observable practices, the badge moves beyond general commitments to equity and ensures alignment around what high-quality, MLL-responsive professional learning actually looks like.
This focus was critical because districts have made significant investments in HQIM, yet many have not seen comparable gains for MLLs. Too often, professional learning stops at general implementation guidance and does not build educators’ ability to analyze, adapt, and intentionally scaffold curriculum to ensure language development is integrated with content learning. Without this capacity, teachers may implement materials as written without recognizing where additional supports, structured discourse opportunities, home language connections, or formative assessment adjustments are needed to ensure full access and rigor.
For example, indicator five in the Multilingual Learner Badge for teachers rubric states: “Professional learning builds teachers’ curriculum literacy by developing their ability to evaluate and adapt HQIM to support MLLs’ language development and access to rigorous, grade-level content.” This indicator matters because language and content are mutually reinforcing—students develop academic language through engagement with meaningful disciplinary work. Professional learning providers must therefore equip teachers not only to implement HQIM with fidelity but also to do so in ways that leverage students’ assets, integrate listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and maintain high expectations from day one.
By centering clear, rigorous indicators like this, the badge ensures that professional learning strengthens teachers’ instructional decision-making in ways that directly improve access, rigor, and outcomes for MLLs.
Q: What experience or research shaped the badge rubric criteria?
The badge rubric was shaped by the ELSF team and our collaborations with a broader forum of researchers, practitioners, and continuous learners. Our work includes providing direct support to MLLs, coaching and developing instructional leaders, and contributing to state-led initiatives designed to center MLLs’ assets and needs. Collectively, our team brings decades of leadership experience implementing curriculum-based professional learning and supporting districts nationwide to effectively leverage HQIM for MLLs.
This practical experience is grounded in deep familiarity with second language acquisition research, state and national standards, and professional teaching standards for MLLs. Drawing on this body of research and practice, we identified the highest-leverage competencies that professional learning providers must demonstrate to earn a badge signaling expertise in MLLs.
Throughout the development process, we also engaged in multiple focus groups with existing PLPG providers and reviewers to refine indicator language, validate expectations, and clearly articulate the rationale behind the selected competencies. This iterative approach helped ensure the rubric was both rigorous and practical while also reflecting real-world professional learning contexts.
Q: What are some examples of key competencies or capacities that professional learning providers will have to demonstrate to earn this badge?
The Multilingual Learner Badge is grounded in providers’ ability to leverage the assets and needs of MLLs to increase their access to HQIM. Key competencies include designing MLL-inclusive professional learning that builds collaborative systems and structures to prioritize support for MLLs; developing educators’ curriculum literacy so they can evaluate and adapt HQIM to support both language development and access to grade-level content; fostering cross-functional collaboration among general education, MLL/ESL, and specialized staff; and using multiple sources of data to inform instruction and targeted supports.
Across all competencies, providers must demonstrate how they build both participants’ beliefs and skills related to serving MLLs through HQIM. This dual focus ensures that professional learning goes beyond strategies alone, helping educators understand why these practices matter and equipping them to apply them independently and effectively in their own contexts.
Q: If you were speaking directly to a district leader considering using the PLPG, what would you tell them about why this badge matters?
MLLs matter, and the choices districts make about professional learning send a powerful signal about whose needs are prioritized. By using the PLPG and selecting a provider with the Multilingual Learner Badge, district leaders are choosing professional learning that intentionally centers MLLs and equips teachers and leaders to implement HQIM with language development and access to grade-level content at the forefront.
This badge helps ensure that professional learning investments build the specific knowledge and skills educators need to serve MLLs effectively while also strengthening instruction and outcomes for all students.
