2025 MABE Dual Language Bilingual Education Conference

Join this dynamic panel of district leaders as they share promising strategies and solutions to build and sustain Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs in Massachusetts. Drawing from diverse contexts and experiences through the Western Massachusetts Bilingual Hub (WMBH) Partnership, panelists will discuss overcoming challenges such as staffing, funding, and community engagement. Attendees will gain actionable tools to advocate for bilingualism, enhance program models, and engage stakeholders effectively. This interactive session offers practical insights, networking opportunities, and a deeper understanding of how to navigate the complexities of DLBE implementation, leaving participants equipped to strengthen bilingual education in their own districts.

Seasoned educators present the essential components of Truman middle-school’s dual language program and explore its 25+ years of ups and downs in preparing dual language students for success in high school and beyond. Participants will leave this session with practical solutions to program challenges, common when working with multiple elementary feeder programs who don’t all have a quality dual language program but serve the same historically underserved community. Getting it right takes time, flexibility, persistence, as well as advocacy!

DLBE programs thrive best when a range of stakeholders’ practices are firmly grounded in systems of collaborative, shared leadership. In this way the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs can better rest on the four pillars of DLBE. Anchored to the Lachance and Honigsfeld framework for Collaboration in DLBE (2023), this workshop is ideal for pairs or small teams of teacher leaders and/or their administrators to attend together. We will explore tools for collaborative leadership to then reflect on current and/or planned programming. Participants from districts/schools with DLBE programs both as stand-alone or strand configurations will interact within the workshop to consider effective approaches for developing and fostering collaborative partnerships norms.


Workshop participants use tools aligned with GP Strand 1, Effective Leadership. These tools emphasize cohesion, collegiality, and collaborative planning. Outcomes focus on program leadership, advocacy, and model development centered on collaboration; Outcomes are aligned to EMMA Standards 5-6.

Knowledgeable leaders are essential to the success of a Dual Language Program. What do building leaders need to know to effectively lead and advocate for a Dual Language program? Join a panel of school leaders from Windham Public Schools as they discuss strategies for building and sustaining effective dual language programs. Using the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education, panelists will share insights and challenges from both experienced and new leaders in one-way, two-way, and secondary programs. Participants can expect to leave with a variety of perspectives and strategies to support their own learning and growth as Dual Language leaders.

This presentation will share the findings of a recent study conducted regarding students’ sense of belonging in a Spanish-English dual language immersion program. Results illuminate students’ views on contributors to their sense of belonging in school, such as teacher care and separation of language, among others. TWBI teachers and administrators will learn about classroom practices and a program model that together can potentially resist the typical decrease in Latin@ students’ sense of belonging within TWBI programs at the upper elementary/middle school levels. TWBI bilingual and monolingual staff will also learn about translanguaging practices in grades 3-6 that impact belonging.