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Assessing Biliteracy: Understanding Student Performance When Learning in Two Languages
Wednesday, October 8, 2025 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT
Presented by Dr. Kathy Escamilla, Professor Emerita of Education, University of Colorado Boulder; and Doris Chávez-Linville, Senior Director of Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Innovation, Renaissance
Moderated by Dr. Carol Johnson, International Education Officer, Renaissance
Sponsored by Renaissance
Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.
Too often, bilingual student achievement is judged through monolingual benchmarks. As multilingual learners develop biliteracy, how can we assess their progress in ways that honor both of their languages—and their full linguistic potential?
In this edWebinar, author and expert Dr. Kathy Escamilla and Doris Chávez-Linville, Renaissance’s Senior Director of Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Innovation, explore cutting-edge research on biliteracy development, drawing on findings from the Biliteracy Trajectories Project to reframe how we interpret student assessment data.
The session invites education leaders to reflect on how data is viewed, interpreted, and acted upon in schools—urging a move toward a more holistic, strengths-based lens. Viewers are also encouraged to pause, question assumptions, and consider how K–12 assessment practices can better support the complex journeys of bilingual and biliterate students. This recorded edWebinar is of interest to K-12 school leaders, district leaders, education technology leaders, and directors of bilingual, dual language, ESL, or ELL programs.
About the Presenters
Kathy Escamilla, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Education in the Division of Social, Bilingual, and Multicultural Foundations at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the co-author of several books, including Biliteracy from the Start and Biliterate Writing from the Start, and of numerous journal articles. She served two terms as the President of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) and is the former co-editor of the Bilingual Research Journal.
Doris Chávez-Linville, M.S.Ed., is Senior Director of Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Innovation at Renaissance. In this role, she advocates for the best tools in the marketplace to support and uplift linguistically and culturally marginalized student populations. She is a former bilingual and migrant education teacher, and she is also currently a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania.
About the Moderator
Carol Johnson, Ph.D., is a bilingual educator and International Education Officer at Renaissance. She holds a Ph.D. in second language acquisition and teaching, specializing in how people learn second languages. Years spent teaching English as a second language and French as a foreign language convinced her of the need to stay current on language and literacy research, always working for better outcomes for students.
Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.
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As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success.
