Intentional Supports for Dual Language Learners| Ecosystem Element 8
2025-04-03 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York) | Cox Campus | Yearlong Learning Journey Webinar
Session Description: This session will explore the Ecosystem Element 8, which focuses on intentional supports for DLL learners. Dual Language Learners (DLLs) or emergent bilinguals, are children learning and developing in more than one language. This element is exclusively focused on the school/site’s systematic and integrated efforts to develop an equitable environment that support DLLs through practices that enhance their learning and build on their strengths, including their first language. Teachers are knowledgeable about dual language development and the supports they must put in place to ensure DLLs thrive. Of principal importance in these supports is the inclusion and promotion of their first language and the encouragement to families to talk, sing, and read with their children in their language.
Why is it important?
Dual language learners benefit from other educational best practices that are effective for monolingual children (those developing in only one language) but they need a little more. They benefit most when they are educated in bilingual environments or when their first language is included for instructional purposes. Research indicates that DLLs learn best when teachers make frequent cross-language connections, and are knowledgeable of where children are in the development of all their languages. Furthermore, bilingual development has multiple advantages – social, cognitive, academic, and economic – and is a desirable outcome for all children. When children’s first language and culture are incorporated in the classroom, their learning takes off

From Language Comprehension to Reading Comprehension | Dr. Laura Justice
2025-04-03 15:30 - 16:30 | Cox Campus | Yearlong Learning Journey Webinar
Session Description: This session will dive into the topic of Language comprehension and the transition to reading comprehension. Explore development approaches and best practices in teaching.

Dr. Laura Justice, PhD
Dr. Justice’s research primarily focuses on young children who exhibit developmental vulnerabilities in language and literacy acquisition. Much of her research considers the effects of teacher or parent implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains within the classroom. She has received the Annie Glenn Leadership Award in Speech-Language Pathology, the Editor’s Award (from American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology), the Early Career Publication Award (from Division of Research, Council for Exceptional Children), the Erskine Fellowship (from University of Canterbury), and the Fulbright Scholar Award. Dr. Justice has served as the co-director of Risk and Prevention in Education Sciences Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training Program, and as an associate professor at the University of Virginia, Curry School of Education. Dr. Justice has also received the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (from President G. W. Bush) and the Khalifa International Award for Early Learning.

Centering First Language and Culture
2025-04-26 10:00 - 11:30 | Cox Campus | Yearlong Learning Journey Webinar
The National Association for Family Child Care reports that 40% of nearly 11 million young children with working mothers in the United States spent more time in family childcare than in any other setting. Family Child Care providers have the opportunity to promote literacy and justice by laying the foundation for learning in a child’s early years. This series brings together Family Childcare community members to explore key content from Cox Campus courses and how to apply it in their unique home-based contexts.
Objectives:

Equip family childcare providers to enhance child outcomes through effective progress monitoring in multiage settings.
Support family childcare providers to center the culture and first language of the dual language learners in their care, fostering a powerful learning environment.

Planning for Success through Strong Partnerships with Families | Ecosystem Element 9
2025-05-08 13:00 - 14:30 | Cox Campus | Yearlong Learning Journey Webinar
Session Description: All families care about their children and just like teachers, want to support their learning. It’s essential to plan to establish strong partnerships with families from the beginning. This element examines how sites position families as partners, endeavor to build trusting relationships with them, and provide multiple opportunities for them to engage and actively participate in their children’s language and literacy development. Strong family and teacher partnerships involve open communication, respect for and celebration of differences, commitment, trust, and shared power and responsibilities. Families are active collaborators and play a critical role in their children’s learning. Opportunities for engagement are driven by families’ needs and desires.
Why does it matter?
Families are children’s first teachers and key partners in their development. Right from the start, young children’s language and literacy are nurtured in the home through interactions with the meaningful adults in their lives – parents, grandparents, older siblings, and other family members. All families teach their children many things – interests, skills, values, traditions, chores, and activities –and all of these lessons contribute to a child’s learning and development. Research demonstrates that family support for language and literacy activities at school and at home positively impacts children’s outcomes in these areas. When families and teachers form strong partnerships, young children make significant gains in their language, vocabulary, concept development, early literacy, and all learning. This paves the way for the development of solid reading and writing skills, and to a life filled with voice, self-determination, and personal empowerment.

Georgia LitLink 2025 Conference
2025-06-16 - 2025-06-18
Georgia LitLink is our state’s literacy conference
dedicated to Georgia public school teachers.
This teacher-facing conference is cohosted by the Georgia Department of Education
and the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy, a program of the Atlanta Speech School.
This conference connects teachers and educators from across Georgia
who will learn as key change-agents in our statewide literacy effort.

Building a Model for Evidence-Based Early Literacy Instruction
2026-01-12 10:00 - 11:15 | Cox Campus | Yearlong Learning Journey Webinar
Join us for the next session in the Knowledge Building for Leaders’ Spotlight Series, designed to equip school and district leaders with the knowledge and strategies needed to transform literacy outcomes.
In this session, we’ll explore how to build a model for early literacy through evidence-based practices. Participants will learn how key components such as professional learning, high-quality curriculum, consistent data & assessment practices, daily instruction and coaching and community involvement improve literacy outcomes for students. Karprice Bentley-Brown, Principal of Brewer Innovation Academy and Mrs. Jasmine Pernell, Literacy Academic Coach. These literacy leaders will reflect on their journey, lessons learned, and success in building a solid early literacy foundation for students.
Register Here

Knowledge Building for Leaders Spotlight Series: Leadership Language: Leading From All Levels
2026-03-09 10:00 - 11:15 | Cox Campus | Yearlong Learning Journey Webinar
Register Here
Join us for a practice-focused webinar spotlighting Structured Literacy implementation at Clyattville Elementary School. In this live session, school leaders will share how they improved early literacy outcomes by aligning instruction to the Science of Reading and building a schoolwide culture grounded in evidence-based practices.
Principal Maggie Moody and Instructional Coach Wendy Lane will discuss how they shifted school priorities to center Structured Literacy, built a strong and strategic principal–instructional coach partnership, and actively supported teachers through aligned professional learning and coaching. They will also highlight measurable school growth, share literacy data insights, and reflect on the systems that helped strengthen K–5 reading instruction across their building.
This conversation is designed for principals, instructional coaches, district leaders, and K–5 educators working to implement Structured Literacy and improve reading achievement schoolwide. Register today to gain practical strategies for leading sustainable literacy change and strengthening student reading outcomes.
Register today to learn practical strategies for leading sustainable literacy change and driving stronger student reading outcomes.
