Ana Cristina, a newly immigrated first grader from Zacatecas, Mexico who was screaming in fear and clinging to her older sister in the doorway of the classroom, set Linda on an amazing journey to learn all that she could about the many Mexican immigrant students arriving in Indiana in the late 1990s. Through her dissertation research, study of the literature, implementation of best-practices, relationships with families, and cultural immersion experiences, Linda has become a knowledgeable and passionate advocate for language minority students and their families. She sees her role as the bridge between two worlds; that of the immigrant student and his family and the American educational system.

Linda collaborates with all stakeholders to design, develop and implement a research-based instructional delivery program for English language learners that results in success. As an Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Thompson has experienced the challenges of implementing the achievement expectations and English language program requirements under No Child Left Behind. During the past eight years, ESL services in her district grew from one pull-out class taught by a bilingual instructional assistant to a comprehensive K-12 program consisting of English language acquisition classes and sheltered instruction content classes taught by certified teachers. In addition, the district has K-12 parent-school liaisons and has developed a cadre of highly qualified bilingual instructional assistants.

Linda understands the challenges teachers and administrators face in this era of high immigration and high stakes accountability. She answers your questions about what works for ESL students with practical strategies and proven techniques. Participants in her professional development workshops say Dr. Thompson is knowledgeable, practical and enthusiastic. They leave the workshops with new ideas, insights and strategies to implement the next day.

Leading for Learning: Meeting the Needs of ESL Students in Your Schools

This workshop is designed for ESL teachers, classroom teachers, principals and central office administrators who are in need of “basic training” in meeting the needs of ESL students. This workshop will include:

• Legal responsibilities of teachers and administrators under Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act
• Legal responsibilities under the Office of Civil Rights and Title VI
• Identification of ESL Students
• Assessing English language proficiency
• The language acquisition process
• English Language Proficiency Standards and ESL Content Standards
• ESL program and instructional delivery models
• Research-based strategies for meeting the academic needs of ESL students
• Practical ideas for modifying the curriculum, instruction and assessment

Designing for Academic Success: Developing Programs that Work for ESL Students

This workshop is designed for ESL teachers, classroom teachers, principals and central office administrators who are looking at the “big picture” in providing programming for ESL students. This workshop will include:

• Legal responsibilities of teachers, administrators and central office under Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Office of Civil Rights and Title VI
• Components of district and school level OCR compliance
• Conducting a needs assessment and data analysis
• Templates for district and school-wide planning for ESL programming
• Templates for Title III/OCR compliance
• Templates for Individual Learning Plans
• Research-based instructional delivery models
• Implementation strategies and suggested timelines

Using Data to Make a Difference for ESL Students

This workshop is designed for ESL teachers, classroom teachers, principals and central office administrators who want to “dig deeper” into the data to inform instruction. This workshop will include:

• Conducting a needs assessment (curriculum, instruction, assessment, personnel)
• Analyzing the needs assessment data
• Templates for district, school and classroom data analysis
• Templates for goal setting and progress monitoring
• Templates for Individual Learning Plans
• ESL program models and implementation strategies
• Research-based instructional delivery models
• Components of an effective program evaluation