¡D.A.L.E.! (Developing Academic Leaders In Education) is a paid, ongoing fellowship that develops and prepares teams of ESL teachers and general education teachers to better support students who are English language learners so that they can thrive at school.
More than 2,500 students in New Orleans are English Language Learners (ELL) and that population continues to grow. In 2017, the average ACT score for high school students who were ELL was 15.5, far below the national average ACT score of 20.8. Overall, the graduation rate for students who are ELL in New Orleans is only 30%.
To support these students, OVNV is dedicated to building the capacity of our teachers and supporting them as academic leaders in our city.
About the fellowship:
¡DALE! (Developing Academic Leaders In Education) is a paid, ongoing fellowship that will select four school teams to develop EL teachers and general education teachers. It’s mission is to develop highly skilled teams of teachers to improve the quality of EL programming in schools and create environments where students who are EL will thrive.
In 2019, ¡DALE! will select four school teams of three teachers each. Teams will be made up of an EL teacher/coordinator and two general education teachers. During the course of the one year fellowship, fellows will focus on grounding their teaching in equity, creating culturally equitable spaces for students, EL best practices, and teaching techniques. For the second half of the fellowship, fellows will create projects using design thinking that will be implemented school wide in order to better support students who are EL.
Fellowship structure:
By accepting teams, ¡DALE! ensures that the development attained during the course of the fellowship doesn’t just affect a single classroom, but instead creates school-wide change. ¡DALE! targets high school teams to boost graduation rate and dramatically increase educational outcomes for students who are EL. Every year one K-8 school will be accepted into the program in order to strengthen the continuity of inclusive educational practices as students progress from one educational setting to the next.
Strategies and practices cannot be properly utilized in a school without first changing mindsets. The fellowship begins with a weekend retreat focused on equity and cultural responsiveness to lay the foundation for future sessions. Afterwards fellows meet in-person once a month for in-depth learning session. In between in-person sessions, fellows participate in virtual workshops to practice and refine what they learned. At the end of the fellowship, fellows will participate in an event to showcase their design projects to educational leaders from across the city and state.
Meet the 2019-2020 ¡D.A.L.E! Cohort from Rosenwald, Success Prep, Wilson, and KIPP Frederick Douglass
Alexandre Smith
Director of Mental Health Services at Rosenwald Collegiate
Sonia Scott
SDI Math Teacher and Case Manager at Rosenwald Collegiate
Morgan Jones
10th Grade Level Chair and Algebra I Teacher at Rosenwald Collegiate
Alejandra Ruiz de Porras
ELL Teacher at Success Prep @ Thurgood Marshall
Brent Chapuis
2nd Grade Teacher at Success Prep @ Thurgood Marshall
Jasmin Zobrist
K-2 Assistant Principal & Director of English Learner Services at Success Prep @ Thurgood Marshall
Kaitlyn Bruce
High School Science Achievement Manager at KIPP New Orleans
Lilliana Raphael
High School ESL Teacher at KIPP New Orleans
Olivia Morales
World History Educator and Curriculum Writer
Trina Payne
5th & 6th Grade Science Teacher at Andrew H. Wilson Charter School
Kelly Tetreau
ELL Coordinator at Andrew H. Wilson Charter School
Hannah Young
4th Grade Science and Social Studies Teacher