15 PDPs 15 modules ~15 hours Signature Course

Supporting Every English Language Learner

A 15-module ELL professional-development course for PreK–12 educators

$89

One-time payment · PDP certificate included

A self-paced, 15-module professional development course (15 PDPs) for PreK–12 educators, designed to meet Massachusetts DESE High-Quality Professional Development criteria. Start when you want and work through the modules on your own schedule. Built for classroom teachers at every grade level, instructional coaches, and ELL/ESL specialists. It moves from foundational second-language-acquisition theory to advanced systems and equity practice, with examples across ELA, math, science, and social studies.

Who this is for

Open to teachers anywhere — PreK–12 classroom teachers, ELL and ESL specialists, instructional coaches, and anyone teaching multilingual learners. Massachusetts educators earn 15 PDPs toward license renewal on completion. If you're licensed in another state, the course may still count as professional development there, but confirming that is yours to do with your district or licensing body.

What you'll do

Each module pairs a short video with a written summary, a Knowledge Check, and a brief reflection. The course ends with a Final Exam covering everything you've learned. PDPs are awarded only when you complete the entire course — and you can start, stop, and resume anywhere, because enrollments do not expire.

Course outline

1
Course Introduction
2
ELL Foundations and Language Acquisition Theory
By the end of this module, educators will be able to apply foundational second-language-acquisition theory — the five stages of SLA, the BICS/CALP distinction, Krashen's five hypotheses, and Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development — to identify where a student is in the acquisition process and plan instruction grounded in second-language-acquisition research.
3
Understanding WIDA and Proficiency Levels
By the end of this module, educators will be able to interpret WIDA's six proficiency levels, four language domains, ACCESS score reports, and Can Do Descriptors to differentiate instruction and make evidence-based reclassification decisions that advance ELL students' progression across the WIDA continuum.
4
Home Language, Culture, and Asset-Based Approaches
By the end of this module, educators will be able to replace deficit framing with asset-based practice by implementing translanguaging strategies, culturally sustaining pedagogy, microaggression awareness and reframings, and family-as-cultural-asset engagement to strengthen ELL students' identity, engagement, and academic outcomes.
5
Content-Language Objective (CLO) Design
By the end of this module, educators will be able to write, differentiate by WIDA level, and avoid the common pitfalls of Content-Language Objectives across ELA, math, science, and social studies, so that every ELL student has an explicit language target in every lesson.
6
Academic Language and Vocabulary Instruction
By the end of this module, educators will be able to close the academic-vocabulary gap for ELL students by applying Beck's three-tier framework, research-based pre-teaching routines, morphology instruction, and interactive word-wall strategies grounded in research on academic-vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension.
7
Scaffolding Strategies for Language Development
By the end of this module, educators will be able to distinguish scaffolding from modification, deploy the six core scaffolds (sentence frames, graphic organizers, visuals, think-alouds, structured partner work, word banks/bilingual glossaries), and design an explicit scaffold-removal plan that moves ELL students toward independent grade-level performance.
8
Sheltered Instruction (SIOP Model)
By the end of this module, educators will be able to plan and deliver sheltered content instruction using the SIOP Model (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) — a lesson-design framework organized around eight components, from lesson preparation through review and assessment — and divide those responsibilities across co-taught classrooms, to support ELL students' content mastery and English language development at grade level.
9
Cooperative Learning and Discourse Structures
By the end of this module, educators will be able to reduce teacher talk and engineer structured peer interaction through Think-Pair-Share, Numbered Heads Together, Jigsaw, Inside-Outside Circle, and academic-discourse sentence frames to increase ELL students' academic-language production in every content area.
10
Reading and Writing Strategies for ELLs
By the end of this module, educators will be able to address text-complexity demands for ELL students by implementing close-reading adaptations, explicit instruction in the five text structures, and the Frames-to-Freewrite writing progression to scaffold ELL students' access to grade-level reading comprehension and academic writing.
11
Formative Assessment for ELL Students
By the end of this module, educators will be able to resolve the language-versus-content assessment paradox by designing WIDA-level-differentiated exit tickets, using oral assessment tools, and identifying and mitigating common assessment biases — so that formative data reflects ELL students' actual content knowledge and informs instructional adjustment.
12
Using Data to Differentiate ELL Instruction
By the end of this module, educators will be able to read ACCESS score reports accurately — including the limits of what the data reveals — and translate that data into flexible grouping and a data-driven planning cycle that targets each ELL student's specific language-development needs.
13
Co-Teaching Models for ELL and General Education
By the end of this module, educators will be able to match each of the six co-teaching models to the instructional purpose it best serves and draft co-planning and feedback routines for their own setting, to deliver integrated content-and-language instruction for ELL students.
14
Technology and Digital Tools for ELL Support
By the end of this module, educators will be able to evaluate digital tools using a four-question ELL-appropriateness framework, apply ethical-use guidelines for translation tools, ELL-supportive features (text-to-speech, leveled text, multilingual interfaces, two-way family communication), and address digital-equity gaps — so that technology amplifies rather than replaces language development for ELL students.
15
Family and Community Engagement for ELL Families
By the end of this module, educators will be able to distinguish interpreter from translator roles, uphold families' right to school communication in a language they understand, plan culturally responsive conferences, and draw on families' funds of knowledge as curriculum assets, to build stronger partnerships with the families of English learners.
16
Advocacy, Equity, and the Whole ELL Educator
By the end of this module, educators will be able to explain the federal legal requirements that govern English learner education and how state regulations build on them; recognize where common school practices — tracking, underrepresentation in gifted and talented programs, over-referral to special education, premature reclassification — disadvantage English learners; and identify concrete advocacy steps available to them in their own classroom and school.

What you'll learn

Apply foundational second-language-acquisition theory — the stages of SLA, BICS/CALP, Krashen's hypotheses, Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, and WIDA proficiency levels — to interpret ELL student behavior and plan responsive instruction.
Design language and literacy instruction — content-language objectives, academic vocabulary development, and scaffolding — that makes grade-level content comprehensible to multilingual learners.
Implement evidence-based instructional models and discourse structures — sheltered/SIOP instruction, structured cooperative learning, and reading/writing strategies — in linguistically diverse classrooms.
Use assessment data, including ACCESS/WIDA score reports, to differentiate instruction and group ELL students by their specific language needs.
Build equitable, sustainable, asset-based systems — including home-language, family, and community engagement — that support English learners across the school.

15 hours · 15 Massachusetts PDPs. Complete every module's Knowledge Check, every reflection, and the Final Exam, and your PDP certificate is issued the moment you finish.