A SEAT AT THE TABLE: A CALL TO ACTION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO PRIORITIZE MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DESIGN

Public School districts need more structured practices to design district-level professional learning opportunities that center on the needs of multilingual learners. The District of Columbia Public Schools was the setting of this research, with approximately 48,000 students across 115 schools in the Washington, D.C. area, including 8,000 Multilingual learners. Historically, school districts need to pay more attention to the educational-environmental needs of multilingual learners by inadequately preparing educators to support them. This research focused on district-level professional learning and development design. It utilized the socio-cultural learning theory, the learning organization framework, and the critical language awareness theory in a participatory action research intervention. Key participants, including leaders in math & science, language acquisition, and special education content areas at the central office, engaged in structured interdisciplinary collaboration to design artifacts for district-level professional learning sessions. The findings indicated that interdisciplinary collaboration positively influenced the design of professional learning that addresses the needs of multilingual learners. Public school districts must adopt critical language awareness approaches that recognize multilingual learners' cultural and linguistic diversity as assets in all learning environments. Additionally, districts should center the needs of multilingual learners by providing meaningful collaboration opportunities for central office practitioners in designing professional learning.