Erick Casallas: Advancing Equity for English Learners

Erick Casallas: [00:00:00] The one practice that students need is that we need to get them speaking more. Sometimes teaching is so transactional. I write my lesson plan, I deliver a lesson plan, and I, teacher, feel like I did a great job. But how are the students invested in that transaction that you’re offering them? And if they’re not speaking, Speaking and they’re not producing the language, then they’re not learning and they’re bored and their heads are down and they’re falling asleep and they’d rather be on their phones.

Let’s face it. We’re living in a, I’d rather be on my phone than listen to you like society. How do I beat that? And that means that I need to build confidence and I need to make sure that I can speak to some things. 

Justin Hewett: Hey everybody. Welcome to the ML chat podcast. My name is Justin Hewett. I’ll be your host today.

I’m joined here by my co host. 

Mandi Morris: Mandi Morris 

Justin Hewett: and Mandi and I just got out of the most amazing conversation with Erick Casallas. Erick is the assistant superintendent for English learners in the Clark County School [00:01:00] District in Las Vegas. And he’s pretty incredible. This is a very insightful masterclass conversation that I feel like Erick gave us today.

Mandi Morris: Man, Erick was all about the strategy of creating systems to support English learners all the way through their learning journey, and then kept bringing it back to, he would talk about love and respect, and he had such an incredible way of supporting students with those systems in place, but then at a very human level as well.

Justin Hewett: Yeah, I think a lot of times we come out of these conversations with a lot of takeaways and things that we can go implement and whatnot, but very rarely do we get it from the level where Erick is, where he’s got, so he’s got to have so many systems in place to be able to serve almost 50, 000 English learners.

And it was just really interesting to hear his perspective on the micro, the love and respect, like you talked about Mandi, but also on the macro and thinking about systems and policies and how are we thinking about our [00:02:00] long term planning and. To be able to marry the two of those was really amazing.

I really appreciated our conversation today with Erick, and I think you’re going to love it. Erick currently serves as an assistant superintendent in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. Among his duties, he oversees the instruction of the district’s almost 50, 000 multilingual students.

Erick’s journey as an educator began in California. After graduating from UCLA with his degree in sociology, he joined Teach for AmEricka and taught in the LA Unified School District. He has spent the last 23 years serving as a principal, as a district administrator, instructional specialist, and as a teacher.

In all of his roles, serving multilingual students has been at the core of his work. He’s currently working on a doctorate at UNLV on providing systematic supports for multilingual students and in district programs designed to serve [00:03:00] their language learners. Erick, we are thrilled to have you join us on the ML chat podcast.

Welcome. Thank you. 

Erick Casallas: I’m glad to be here. It’s a privilege to be here with you guys. 

Justin Hewett: It’s amazing for me to think of all the students that you are serving right now in Clark County, almost 50, 000 students. That in and of itself would qualify it as one of the largest school districts in the nation. And you work with all of those students as the assistant superintendent.

I know that we’re going to dive into that work and I’m excited to, to learn about your approach and your, some of the things that you’re working on right now in the district. But I want to go back to where you got started in this work and working with our multilingual students. What drew you to this?

How did you get started wanting to serve English learners? We’d love to hear that part of your story. 

Erick Casallas: So I think it really goes back to why I wanted to become a teacher. I remember taking this class at UCLA called the Sociology of Education. And I was all of 19 years old and I remember reading this book.

book called Savage [00:04:00] Inequalities about how the educational system is just messed up for some kids. So that just sparked this interest in me. So I started like volunteering at schools and doing work study programs around school and to the point where I decided to be a teacher and when I joined Teach for AmEricka.

And my first job placement was in East Los Angeles with the LA Unified School District. I taught at Ford Boulevard Elementary. I taught fifth grade. And it was just one of those, one of those things you realize, like these kids are like immigrant children, they’re first generation and their parents don’t speak the language and they don’t know how to navigate the system and they’re performing and you expect them to do well.

And that language is a barrier for them and they speak to you in English and Spanglish and in Spanish and as somebody who also speaks their language, it was a beautiful thing for me to just be able to communicate them and be a person that says, Hey, I got you and I’m going to walk you through this. And, but again, I was at 22 now at 23 years later, I realized that [00:05:00] there’s a science to it and there’s systemness to it and there’s policy behind it and so much more.

And that’s why I feel like I need to make sure that I help and support future educators in doing the same work that I’ve been figuring out for the last 23 years. 

Justin Hewett: It really resonates to me that you felt as you’re in that school for the first year working with these fifth grade students, that you’re speaking all the Spanish, Spanglish and English, working it all together, having these experiences.

But I love that idea of, that you communicate of, I’ve got your back. And I think that’s something that students can really feel. I think that’s something that we communicate, yes, through the words that we say. But it’s also just, it’s through our tone. It’s through the way that we approach them, the way that we greet them, the way that we, it’s in everything.

What did you do? Do you feel like when you were in, when you go back to the 22 year old Erick Casillas, what did you do in that moment that you felt like helped communicate? I’ve got [00:06:00] your back to these students. 

Erick Casallas: In every level of the work that I’ve done in the last 23 years, I always say that I have to function with the balance of love and respect for what I do.

And I would tell my students, I love you guys, you guys got this. As a principal, I would tell my staff and my students we have to love and respect each other, I love and respect you guys, and we have to love and respect the work that we do. And the work that I do now, I, we have to love and respect the work that we do and the students that we serve.

So I feel like when you function with that level of like heart first and then the mind comes next and then everything else follows after that it’s a secret, it’s the secret sauce that’s worked for me in my work. 

Mandi Morris: What you’re saying is you see your students and your students are seen by you. And that’s so beautiful.

I feel like when we think of teachers that had an impact on our lives, it’s probably those teachers that saw us and heard us and made us feel valued. Right now you’re doing your doctorate in systemic structures, right? That can help to build systems for English learners, where they can really fulfill their [00:07:00] true potential.

Can you tell us a little bit about the, you’ve got to love and respect and have students heard, but that feels micro, right? And then we’re at the systemic pieces, the macro piece. Could you talk with us a little bit about what does that look like for you right now? How are you thinking about that? 

Erick Casallas: Yes. And I’m glad that you brought that up because that is such a large helicopter view, like very above.

at a very high level, right? So how do you create systems for school districts that have 50, 000 English learners, 30, 000 English learners, 10, 000 English learners? And how do you make sure that they are being supported at the school site from newcomer all the way to long term English learners? Because we often group English learners in just one broad category and assume that they all need the same thing.

But when we create systems, that means that a newcomer needs a system, a long term English learner needs a system to do that. And that means that you have to respect who those students are, the assets they come with, and then the needs that they have instructionally as well. And then how do you provide the classes, the courses, the instructional [00:08:00] resources, and then ultimately what it comes down to is an efficacious teacher that is going to love and respect that child, right?

So from the top all the way down, it’s how that work is disseminated out at all those levels. 

Mandi Morris: What does that look like for you in your role right now? What does that mean for you in practice? 

Erick Casallas: In practice right now, I’ve been in a lot of meetings. That’s what it really looks like, but I have to represent and I have to speak up, right?

So when we are having organizational meetings or we’re talking about the work that’s going to be pushed out, what’s the lens of the English learner, the newcomer, the long term English learner, the at risk of becoming a long term English learner. What right now it really is, how do we integrate all those supports in All of the tier one supports and the MTSS pyramid in assessment and professional development.

So it’s making sure that the voice is there and that it’s, and that it’s relevant at the table, as opposed to, Oh, you’re title three, or you do this like siloed work within a school district [00:09:00] of 300, 000 students. How do you make that visible? And that’s really my work right now. 

Mandi Morris: I love talking about this stuff and I’m like, I want to dig right into the meat.

But I’m wondering, Justin, should we go back and learn a little bit about Erick and his story? 

Justin Hewett: There’s so much to unpack here. And so I, yeah, for sure. I’d love to learn a little bit more of what led you to, to this role. Clark County has one of the largest multilingual student populations. I love hearing you talk about how it’s not just one group of English learners.

There’s all of these specific groups and students that have similar unfinished learning and are bringing certain assets and others are bringing others. And how do you think about all of that? And I’m sure that a big part of that started from your experience working up. So you started with Teach for AmEricka in that LA USD school district.

Like where did it go from there? Where did your career go from there before obviously bringing you to Nevada? I know you spent 20 something years in California throughout [00:10:00] California. 

Erick Casallas: I was born and raised in California and thought I would be there forever. So I did three years in LA Unified and I went back to where I grew up, which is Bakersfield, California.

So Bakersfield, California is what we call an ag town, right? Lots of agricultural work, farm workers, and lots of, that’s like the, one of the major food producers in the nation is Kern County and the San Joaquin Valley in California. So in the Southern San Joaquin Valley is where Bakersfield is located.

And that’s where I went to high school and I went to middle school there. And I felt like I needed to give back to my community as well. And plus it was more affordable then, right? Living on a teacher’s salary in LA is not always convenient, right? You’re on the struggle bus for sure. So I decided to go back home cause it was more, it was an economical decision.

And I also wanted to give back to the community that gave me so much. I had amazing teachers growing up. So I just felt like I needed to give back to the system in my own way. So I taught. In Delano, California, which is just North of McFarland where [00:11:00] McFarland USA, the big, the running movie. And I taught farmworker kids and it was great, but it was a little far from me from where I was in Bakersfield.

So I decided I needed to stay in Bakersfield, which was going to be a much shorter commute. And I was placed to teach sixth grade at a very low performing middle school as a sixth grade teacher, which was like the highest, like Latino and African AmErickan population of all the middle schools. schools, and it was the lowest performing middle school in the county.

And I remember my interview saying, I want a tough school. And they looked at me like, are you serious? All right, you’re in. Right. 

Justin Hewett: Yeah. 

Erick Casallas: And that’s, and I did that for five years and I loved it. It was a challenge. And I had some days that were like super hard and I had some days that were super amazing. But I, every year I took my students and I would bring them from at that time during NCLB, it was like, you’re far below basic kids or you’re below basic And I took them from those levels to.

Basic or proficient. So I was able to grow them like two or three bands. And I just thought everybody did that, right? And there’s a [00:12:00] science to it, but there’s always the love and respect piece that I talked about before, because I genuinely cared about my students so much and I wanted them to perform well and be successful.

And then in 2011, I was named current county teacher of the year. And that’s when life catapulted for me. I was placed on the commission on teacher credentialing by the governor at the time. So I got to sit on that standards board for three years. And I then was picked up by the district office and was able to write.

Professional development when the common core was barely being rolled out in 2012. And as an instructional specialist for mathematics and reading intervention. So being able to do that at the district level, I saw things from beyond just my influence in the classroom, but saw it from a district lens.

And then it was just administrative work after that. I became a director of an EL program, supervisor of an EL program in Bakersfield city, and then it was placed as a principal of a dual language school. So being able to be bilingual and lead bilingually in English and in Spanish was a magical thing and I loved it.

And [00:13:00] then I entered a peer in Vegas two years ago, entered as a principal and. Here I am as an assistant superintendent of a very large, multilingual, inter bilingual EL population here in Vegas. 

Justin Hewett: What a jump! Oh my gosh, to go from managing a building, being the principal of a building, to now being the assistant superintendent.

What was that like? Did you apply for the position? How did that, how did you end up in this role now? 

Erick Casallas: I was a principal here for a year and I had significant gains in mathematics and in language arts. We grew by 5 percent in ELA my first year and then, but we grew by 15 percent proficiency in mathematics.

And really, cause that was my big focus for when I entered here. I was like, all right, our math performance data needs to grow. So I think that was noted. And then my conversations with my supervisors and that professional learning sessions were very, uh, Oh, who is Erick? He seems like he really knows what he’s talking about because I’ve always been an instructional leader.

I pride myself on that. So that being an organizational leader has been like my area of growth, right? So now that [00:14:00] I’m sitting in this role, I have to see things at a much. Much more like organizational level and understand Adam at a much bigger system level when you’re in a district with 360 schools I’m not just worrying about my building I’m worrying about 360 buildings and I’m not just worrying about like a staff of 50 teachers.

I’m worrying about 40, 000 teachers now. So how do we provide that level of differentiated support and systems and Professional learning for them. That’s, and that’s a work in progress. I haven’t figured it out yet completely, but we’re getting it done. And it’s not just me. I have a, an amazing team and I’m just one branch of many within the academic unit here in the district.

So when there’s a system that supports the work, it just, it happens on its own. 

Justin Hewett: I would love to hear like what your team looks like. What does your team look like to be able to serve 50, 000 English learners throughout the district and 360 schools? You’ve got to have quite the team. What is everybody doing?

What does your team look like? Yeah, 

Erick Casallas: I [00:15:00] have got a staff that I directly supervise that’s of about 40 people. And then I’m also in charge of the translations and interpretations for the entire district. And that’s another team of about 45, 50 people. But I do have, within the EL division, there’s five branches.

I have the Instructional Pathways, which is for our newcomer, long term English learners, and Dual Language Programming. And then I have Access and Equity, where we have reading skill centers at 46 of our schools, and those reading skill centers are meant to meet the needs of English learners in small group settings.

The translations and interpretations, like I mentioned earlier. And then I also supervise the newcomer high school here in Clark County. We have a newcomer high school called global community high school for high schoolers that are newcomers and just need a place where they feel like they belong and that they’re, The students are all in the same spot and it’s meant to accelerate their English language skills.

And then we also have a director of undocumented immigrant refugee students. So those students who are coming to us with high needs, how do we help to [00:16:00] onboard them into the system? Because a lot of the times they show up at the schools and we don’t know what to do because of their legal status and so forth.

So how do we get them wrapped around? How do we get them linked up to immigration services and so forth so that we can keep them in the system and help them be successful as opposed to if you can’t figure it out, we know what happens with those kids. They’ll just eventually stop coming and then they’ll just enter the workforce and or other things happen.

Justin Hewett: It’s interesting. I’ve spoken with hundreds of Yale directors across the nation, and it’s interesting to think about. Oftentimes in a smaller district, there’s one director or coordinator that is doing all of these things that you’re mentioning here because they have a lot smaller population and they’re, and every day is a little bit different for them because one day they got a newcomer and a new student.

And then the next day they’re trying to be a part of some curriculum planning and strategic planning for what that might look like. And then the next day they’re doing a PSYOP training or anyways, there’s any number of every day’s a little bit different. I can imagine in your role today. All those little things that [00:17:00] might come up in a district come up every single day in Clark County.

And so you’ve got teams that are working to serve the needs of students. And so, how can you go have the biggest impact now? Because you’ve got these wonderful people in place that are committed to serving the students that you’re tasked with representing. Where do you have the biggest impact now? What levers are you thinking about pulling and do you work with?

Erick Casallas: My levers right now are really working with my team and really just like making sure that I am Motivating them and really monitoring the work. So here in Clark, we do a really great job of really tracking and documenting a lot of the work that we’re doing there. So it’s not just, here’s an idea. Here’s a quarterly objective.

Let’s go back and then, Oh, we didn’t meet our quarterly objective. Let’s write a new one. No, we really hold ourselves accountable to those quarterly objectives. And we say, okay, what did I do and what can we do to improve that? And then let’s keep that same objective, but we’re going to really make sure, how are we going to get better at holding ourselves accountable to doing that?

So that lever is one. And then the second [00:18:00] one is really just making sure that I’m working with my other assistant superintendents within the academic unit. I work with the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, the assistant superintendent of assessment and accountability, the assistant superintendent of college and career readiness, and the assistant superintendent of leadership and professional development.

So the five of us work with our chief academic officer, and we are constantly collaborating with each other and cross pollinating our work and making sure that. Artwork is visible in all of our areas. So that is my other lover because. If I don’t collaborate with them, then my work is going to continuously be siloed.

And then just making sure, Hey, you guys are implementing a new unit in mathematics. Let’s implement some language supports in that. For social studies, science, math, there’s assessment there. Let’s make sure that we’re focusing on that assessment. And how are we making sure that assessment is equitable and meeting the needs of our English learners as well.

Justin Hewett: That seems like a really hard thing to systematize because you’ve got your whole team that you’re working with and working through and then each [00:19:00] of the other assistant superintendents you mentioned, they have the same thing or something similar. It seems like that cross departmental collaboration. It doesn’t happen a lot of times.

In districts, right? It’s just it’s a difficult thing to do. Well, what is it for your team for the other assistant superintendents that you’re working with and collaborating with? What are some of the maybe processes that you’ve put in place that help facilitate that cross departmental collaboration? 

Erick Casallas: I know my chief academic officer, I have one on ones with him every other week.

So I’m constantly giving him updates on the work that we’re doing. So that’s my level of accountability that I have. And I mirror the same work with my directors. So I have four directors and then my principal that I supervise. So we have the same thing like weekly, biweekly touch points where it’s like, all right, provide me updates on this work.

I also have a region team. So one of my directors supports a group of region coordinators who go out and support the 360 schools. So from there, I’m constantly monitoring how many directors Supports and [00:20:00] services that they’re providing. What’s the professional learning that they’re giving. I’m always aware of the professional learning that’s given.

We’re like, they’re allowed to give five and they’re all vetted by me. So it’s instructional strategies and walkthroughs and so forth. So it’s controlled in some way. So some people call it micromanaging, but I don’t like to call it that because it’s really just systematizing all this, because if we let a lot of randomness happen, then we’re not going to see results.

So we have to make sure that things are very tightly structured with some sense of direction. And there’s a common goal that we’re all heading towards. 

Justin Hewett: If you’re listening right now, you should probably hit that back button to, to listen to what Erick just said. Like the 15 seconds, you might need to hit it twice.

I think that really resonates with me. I think that really says a lot. If you allow it for randomness, you’re not going to get the results you’re necessarily you know, seeking and you can’t recalibrate, you can’t adjust and you can’t move from there. That really resonates with me. 

Mandi Morris: I was also thinking about when you have structures that are tight, you’re able to put a finger on what’s [00:21:00] working and what isn’t, so that when you reiterate, you know what to adjust and where to make changes.

And I know probably a year from now, if we had another conversation, it would be so interesting to see you like look back and have some reflection on where those changes took place. I’m wondering when you think about instructional strategies in middle school and high school for English learners. What does that look like?

What are those structures that you either have in place or are working to get in place to tighten up with those structures look like? 

Erick Casallas: So that’s our problem of practice right now. So at the very entry level, it’s really is how do we get students to write, speak with compound and complex sentences? So that means what are those sentence frames looking like?

And again, like our students deserve more than just a sentence frame. They deserve a context for which they’re going to apply those sentence frames with argumentation. And the four key uses, narrate, explain, [00:22:00] inform, argue, where we’re going to do that. And every single content area. So again, it’s not just, Oh, it’s the EL class or because we’re putting all these long term English learners in a class, they’re going to get that language support in that class, but how do we integrate into everything?

And right now, the big words that I’m using in my division are integrate. leverage and elevate because when you integrate your work and you elevate your practice and you leverage what when our students skills and assets, then that’s what we focus on when it comes to meeting the needs of ELs and really all students.

But again, it’s elevating our practice, but we are working on a systematizing that. A little bit more and really providing that professional development in the next couple of months in order to hit next fall with very strong systems and structures right now, we’re just observing and creating, look for tools and really trying to help build the instructional capacity of our building leaders, but now we’re going to really focus on the teacher moves.

So right now it’s like leader moves next year. It’s teacher moves. [00:23:00] 

Mandi Morris: And this is so exciting to me. This is the world that I live in. I like it. So pumped up about, I work with some incredible educators in the curriculum instruction department here. And we talk a lot about, it’s a bit of a mind shift when teachers take ELD, English language development out of the silo and place it into an integrated approach, and it can be a little bit uncomfortable to understand how we does KLU’s for example, exist in the content classroom, because as an ELD specialist or educator.

I don’t want to have to figure that out in science or math. That makes me uncomfortable. And for the science or math teacher, they feel the same on the other side. I don’t want to have to talk about forms and functions. That’s somebody else’s job. So finding bridges to connect that work and finding willing partners is complex and it’s complicated and it can get messy.

And especially in a big school district, like where you’re working, but what I hear from you is that you’re taking a year. to [00:24:00] build out some of that capacity in admin and leadership and then moving in. It’s very strategic. We have people listening today. They’re like, we want to do this work, but how could you talk a little bit about the thinking and how you’re really strategically building out this work?

Erick Casallas: Yeah. I’m currently building a strategic plan for the district right now for our EL and multilingual learner population. We’re just in a holding pattern because we’re waiting for our next superintendent right now. We’ve had an interim for the last couple of months, but because we’re just waiting for that, but it really came down to developing goals, developing strategies, and then developing systems that align with those goals. So yeah, it really, and our goals are really decreased the number of long term English learners. That’s our big one. integrate practices into tier one, support our newcomers is another big one.

And then really just keeping the mark on EL proficiency when it comes to ELA and mathematics. And that’s a [00:25:00] really hard metric to meet. When you look at districts, district data is across the nation. We always compare our ELs compared to their non EL peers. And it’s always night and day. You see the bar graph and it’s like everyone else ELs are in the team, single digits, and it’s always disparaging.

So I’ve had to look and present the data in a much more different way, because if not, it just always looks doom and gloom. So we have to show potential and we have to show successes. And then we have to show next steps as opposed to here’s our EL data, here it is again. And then you have board members and the community upset saying, why are these students continuing to fail?

They’re not failing. We have to look to see what they’re doing and what the opportunity is to get them there and then present the EL data in a different way. 

Mandi Morris: I love that. It’s just asset thinking. 

Justin Hewett: Yeah, no, I do too. I think it really resonates with me to focus on where the students are coming from. We, in our company at Flashlight, we talk a lot about a book called The Gap in the Game.

And it’s really, it’s a mindset that’s focused on, I think. We as AmErickans, especially are so focused on the gap [00:26:00] on where we are and where we’re trying to get. And a lot of times that gap is like where we’re trying to get is always moving, right? It’s like the whole idea of the Phil GoPulse are always moving where really, if we want to measure success, we want to measure progress.

We have to look back and look at where we’re coming from. So we can see how far we’ve come. That’s how we can measure the gain. And when you can see that growth, now you start building confidence that you can do even more and take on bigger challenges and you see your past progress informs where you can go from next.

So I love that thinking. I love that focus on assets. Erick, I want to dive in a little bit more and talk about. Our students who are classified as long term English learners. I know that’s a real big focus for you in serving your long term English learners and serving them and decreasing the number of long term English learners in the Clark County school district.

How do you think about that? How do you approach. Serving those students and moving the needle and [00:27:00] making a difference for them when they’ve been in our school systems for all these years and we haven’t moved the needle quite enough yet, right? How about that for going into the gap, right? There’s some gap thinking for you, right?

But we haven’t, like we haven’t moved the needle enough for these students. They haven’t made the progress that they need to make so that they can exit being an English learner so they can take the electives they want to take or whatever it might be. What can we do different? What are you thinking about and doing different to serve our long term English learners?

Erick Casallas: That’s a great question. I think that’s the question that all of us who lead this level of work in districts have, right? So I had to look at the data. So 47, 000 ELs, and I looked at it and I looked at all of our percentages of LEP categories, and we have about 6, 000 newcomers. And then we have about 17, 000 long term English learners in Clark County.

The overwhelming majority of them obviously are in middle school and high school. And then we looked at the access to AP, CTE programs, dual enrollment, and [00:28:00] it’s just not even close to comparison to their non EL peers. Looking at that metric and really saying, okay, this is a problem of practice and it’s an access and equity issue, right?

And then we looked and asked ourselves, okay, how many of these ELs that are now long term English learners have been enrolled? Since kindergarten with us here in the Clark County school district, because the story is always, they move and these kids are moving from one district to the next and they’re moving from state to state and that’s why they have instability, their migrant workers or whatever, right?

So I pulled the number 87 percent of that 17, 000 have been with us since kindergarten. So it’s not. The problem is not the students. It is the fact that we need to elevate our practice, right? So when I state that number, then the room gets quiet, right? And then, so I state the why, and then now let’s talk about the how, right?

So we talk about Simon Sinek’s work about what’s our purpose and what’s our North Star, where we need to get, right? So these students need access. [00:29:00] And you mentioned electives. Here in Nevada, it’s not mandated to provide a designated ELD like it is in some states. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad, right?

In California, there were kids that didn’t get to take band or science or whatever because they had to take ELD. Here in Nevada, you can, you have options to many. But if you don’t have the language, you You still don’t have access to it. So that’s what I want the policymakers to understand is yes, you have this open policy where people have access to everything, but if you can’t speak the language of that tech program or that AP class.

You can, you’re not going to be successful in it. Elevating practices, language, so forth. We’ve been doing a lot of work with Aida Walkie, with QTEL, really trying to set the mark for what are the lowest common denominators that students need, sentence frames, academic language, academic vocabulary, language objectives, doing that academic discourse, the secret sauce that so many of us in this context have been doing for decades.

But really just making sure that we are holding our leaders accountable to doing the same thing. Because we do a lot of this. [00:30:00] Teachers need to do, teachers need to do. No, leaders need to do as well. And we need to be very reflective in that practice and have good conversations at every single level to make sure that this is happening.

Justin Hewett: When you think about that in leaders need to do, what is it that leaders need to do to help create the right environment where we can move the needle for our English learners? 

Erick Casallas: So this goes back to my doctoral research, right? So I’m looking to research which districts provide systems of supports that are differentiated for ELs.

Because again, we just say all ELs will do this. We’ll put them in this class. We’ll make sure that they get 45 minutes of designated language instruction. But, How do we know that’s even working? Have we asked ourselves if that policy is working? So let’s examine state policies and let’s examine district policies and board policies and then see which ones have shown pockets of success, because there’s been pockets of success in doing so.

And really it just comes down to making sure that kids are elevating language and that they’re provided and being able to be in [00:31:00] spaces where they’re able to, show their intelligence and so forth. So whether it’s in an English only pathway or a dual language pathway, we have to just make sure that there are strong systems and structures to support those kiddos.

Mandi Morris: I think what happens sometimes at the secondary level, schools feel so stretched to be able to meet the needs of such diverse populations. It’s an easier brushstroke to say everyone’s getting this. And it’s much more complex and complicated work. To start building systems that meet the needs of this pocket of newcomers who are scythe and slyfe students that you have in 9th and 10th grade.

And these long term multilingual learners who are not passing 9th grade algebra over and over again. And we’ve got to unpack why. Like, why don’t they have the math language they need to pass that class? I wonder, we’ve been talking a lot about high level system work. Can you put your hat on as a principal?

Because we have a lot of school districts that don’t have the [00:32:00] resources that you have with 47, 000 And could you talk to the principal of the school who’s saying, Hey, we’ve got this influx of students. We’ve got these complicated pockets. We want to do the best work that we can. Where do you start even at that localized level?

Erick Casallas: Yeah, that’s a, that’s another great question, right? So I’ve. I experienced that when I first came here to Vegas, I was placed at a school that had really good academic performance, but there were 30 ELs in the school of about 700 kiddos, only 30 ELs, which is not a very high statistically number when we think about that, but there’s still 30 kids that needed services.

And I, so when I asked, I was like my second week. And on the job and I’m like, all right, how many else we have? We have 30. All right. Who’s meeting their needs? Oh, nobody. Okay. We will. Who’s the strategist. And in Nevada, we have read by grade three strategists and every elementary school. I had my strategist work with those kids throughout the day and pull them out and just check in with them, provide language supports for them as needed.

So we did, we moved that needle. [00:33:00] In that way. And then at the end of the year, part of our Nevada report card, you have to show progress with your ELs and we scored a 10 where some schools score one out of two, one out of 10 or two out of 10, whatever, but you have to leverage who you have on your campus.

Like whether you have an AP or whether you have a tutor or whoever. Who’s going to be your person that’s going to support those kids, right? And if you don’t have the instructional like capacity to do who at the district office will help you, who at the county district office will help you, who at the state level will help you, because those systems should exist there.

And if not, then the Department of Education, the Office of English Language Acquisition has many resources on there as well. So there’s ways. It’s just that you’ve got to build a team around that, because without that team, then you’re on your own. And then. It’s just, it’s not going to launch. 

Mandi Morris: It’s finding those willing partners, right?

Being what I hear a lot from you as a theme of this conversation is you use the terminology cross pollination. I love that. And I think at the very beginning of that conversation, you talked about not [00:34:00] having silos. It’s obviously a theme of the work that you do. And those willing partners that might be an ELA teacher, a history teacher, an AP, a coach, a counselor, but it’s being willing to take a step back and look around and saying, okay, who is willing to get in there and do this work with me?

Because it’s about building a team. With the students at the center of the work that you’re doing. I really appreciate that about like this message that you bring. What’s next for you, Erick? Like when you think forward a year from now, what do you hope to see in action in Clark County? 

Erick Casallas: I want principals to walk into classrooms and observe teachers and provide feedback on how they’re supporting their EL students.

I think that’s where we’re going to see the lever move, right? Because right now we’re really focusing on, okay, our objective is being posted, our teachers engaging our students, but if Principals have meaningful conversations with their teachers and say, Hey, I noticed that this student just enrolled and they’re a newcomer.

How are you providing supports? And how can I support [00:35:00] you in doing so? What resources do you need? Because the district’s providing a great amount of like tier one resources, but our kids need a little bit extra, right? How do we integrate those language supports into tier one? And then what other? Like products are out there to help support the work as well.

Because sometimes a teacher just needs an additional person in the room, but those people are expensive, right? And if not, then how are we leveraging our one to one devices to support with that work? But not too much though, because we don’t want ELs in front of screens too much. We want them integrated and immersed in the language, not immersed on screens.

But it’s a balance of many things. 

Justin Hewett: Yeah. I love, I really appreciate you clarifying your comment there about using a device. We have this one to one, how do we use that to stimulate and serve our English learners, but then stepping back and clarifying and saying, but not that much. Cause ultimately at the end of the day, the only way you’re going to build language is by using it and by participating.

One of the things when we’re first building Flashlight 360 and going down that path is we saw [00:36:00] so many devices. Today are used for consumption. We’re consuming media. We’re consuming an instructional program. There’s some participation, but really there’s a lot of consumption. And the thing that we weren’t seeing a lot of necessarily is creation or building ultimately production.

Are we using the device for production? And so that was one of the things that was really, top of mind for us as we built flashlight is we wanted it to be something that if a student was going to be on a device, it was going to be something that allowed them to use their voice. To use the assets they brought to the work, allow them to use their language and participate and use it to, to build and produce, not necessarily.

And so I really appreciate you really driving that home and making that point. I’m thinking about those principals as they walk into a classroom and asking teachers the questions that you brought up. What an amazing way to help the teachers feel seen in that work and appreciated. And we talk a lot about [00:37:00] serving our students and making sure that we show up for them.

And a lot of our long term English learners, there’s a lot of research around the fact that, frankly, they don’t feel like anybody at school. really cares about them and that is noticing them per se. Gosh, if we want our teachers to be that much more engaged in serving our long term English learners, we better be there showing up for our teachers.

And that’s what I’m hearing you saying. It just, it really resonates with me. 

Erick Casallas: My previous superintendent that we had here said something that was so profound, like expectations without support. And we are living in this time in education where we are expecting at every single level people to just perform.

You’ve got to be a teacher, a counselor, a social worker. You’ve got to do SEL and make sure kids feel safe at school. Be aware because of all the safety issues happening at schools and everything else. You have to support people along the way. And being a building leader right now, a principal, is probably one of the toughest jobs right now.

Just because of all the level of expertise. And you have to really have a strong team because if not, the work will just overwhelm you. [00:38:00] And then it will just produce the same systems and outcomes. So we have to make sure that adequate supports and partnerships are there in the work and building leaders have to partner with their teachers in moving the instructional leader for their kiddos.

Justin Hewett: I have a thought on that, but I just, I want to ask your advice on, I’m thinking about, I’m thinking about a new EL coordinator or director, right? They’re new to a district, they’re put in that role and they catch the vision of working through the principles of each building to serve the English language.

Cause I think you’re right. I think at the end of the day, in my experience, I’ve walked into a lot of schools around the nation. And I felt like pretty immediately. Upon walking in into that building and meeting the principal, I could tell what kind of a school it was. I could tell how it was performing.

I could tell how the staff felt. It was amazing to me what a difference a principal makes in a building. And so talk to us a little bit about maybe the advice you would give to a new EL director. How do you get [00:39:00] building principals 

Erick Casallas: engaged and involved in this work? That’s what my region team does. So I met with my region team on one on ones last May, and I just said, Hey, I’ve been in the position now since the fall of that school year.

How’s it going? How can I support you? Give me feedback on how I can be a better leader for you. One of my coordinators said something to me that just was like, wow, he’s, you know what, I go to the schools and I feel like I’m a used car salesman. And I said, wow. Okay. But you’re not a used car salesman.

You’re helping to meet the needs of English learners. He’s I just feel like whatever I’m telling them, like it’s not sticking or they don’t want me there. They’re making me feel like I’m like, I’m adding to their workload and so forth. So I said, all right, how can we flip the script? So that doesn’t necessarily happen.

And how do we work in partnership with our principals? Because if, yeah, if we go in and saying. You’ve got to do this and I think you should do this and let’s do this. Then you are going to be a used car salesman and building leaders are going to say, you know what, I’ve got [00:40:00] this. I don’t need to necessarily do this.

We I’ve got this internally, which in all principles should be able to say that, but how do we partner with leaders and then provide that differentiated support, because if we provide the canned, like we’re doing one, two and three, and which one of these do you want? So how do we. Help to differentiate that support.

And how do we align the work with what’s currently happening is really where I think the work needs to live right now, but not too loose either, because you can’t have too much randomness, as I said earlier, but you have to say within these like spheres, where would you like to live for the time being?

And then how can I support you with that? 

Mandi Morris: Really hearing the needs, like you were saying earlier with students and making them feel seen like that trust and love, like you got to build the relationships. With principles, give them a little bit of flexibility within the constraints of if it’s three or four or five, goals that we are going to be aligned with.

But when you build that relationship, you can have those tough conversations and really do the work together collaboratively. 

Erick Casallas: Correct. Yeah. It’s really about partnerships and the work and helping others to elevate [00:41:00] their work. And the one common denominator amongst every principle is that every principle wants to move forward.

their school and wants to produce positive outcomes and positive trending data for their school. There’s no principal that doesn’t want that. That’s why they took the job, right? So when we say and partner with our principal and say, how can I help your EL metric? And let’s really strategize on that and let’s unravel and understand what AGP means on the WIDA assessment and which are those kiddos that are likely to be proficient on the SBAC, then that’s Meaningful conversations with principals, as opposed to, I have a fly by PD that I can give your staff, right?

That’s not going to get me anywhere. But if I have a meaningful conversation about data and then what are the moves attached to that outcome, then that means a lot more. So good, 

Justin Hewett: Erick. I feel like this has been a masterclass. And how to think about building the structures and systems to, to go serve our English learners.

I’m so glad you’re doing [00:42:00] your doctorate and doing that research. And I think that your dissertation is going to be really valuable and I’m excited to, to look it over and review it myself when that time comes. Unfortunately, at some point we have to end this thing and we, and so what we’re going to have to wrap it up, even though I feel like I could sit here and learn from you all day.

I want to go back to in your career. At some point, something happened that has made all the difference, some sort of an inflection point for you. And you mentioned earlier that your passion for serving art, serving English learners, really started right out the gate and you wanting to be a teacher and then went into Teach for AmEricka and you went that direction.

But along your experience, In teaching and working here in education, is there a moment where kind of everything changed for you, where the work shifted, it became more of a mission, or something happened? And if so, we’d love to hear about what that experience was. 

Erick Casallas: There’s been many moments that have moved me in my career to do what I do.

But I would [00:43:00] say, The one that really was like, all right, this is going to be like my career’s work. When I was supervising the EL program in California for Bakersfield city school district, Bakersfield is a district of about 9, 000 ELs and of about 32, 000 students, a pretty large mid size district from California, about 10 percent of the size here of Clark.

But. In 2014, 2015 is when California rolled out the ELA ELD framework and they were working on the English Learner Roadmap Policy. Being at the table and hearing Laurie Olson and Kenji Hakuta, Kate Kinsella, And being able to have conversations with them at tables and being able to be part of that group during that time and going to the state title three meetings, that’s when I saw it at a much global level.

And when you’re in California and California is a state with the most ELs in the entire nation, they set the map and the tone for the entire nation. And I didn’t [00:44:00] realize at the time that was just like above and beyond, but that was just normal for me. And I step outside of that context and I come to Nevada and it is just, we’re not there yet.

Yeah. But we’ll get there. But it is when I heard Kenji Hakuta speak at a conference and he talked about integrated and designated ELD and all the new move that we were going to do in shifting and understanding language that Stanford University was working on. And hearing him speak. I remember this is why I’ve done what I’ve done without knowing it.

And this is what I need to continue doing. And being a principal of a dual language school, I saw it working with Dr. Jose Medina. If you’ve ever, you need to interview him next. If you haven’t interviewed him, like I call him like my friend, like we’re Twitter friends. Like one time he came over to my house when he was in California.

He is an amazing human being. And I remember him telling me you have so much to say to this space and get your doctorate because people will listen to you more. So I’m getting my doctor because of him. So one day I’ll give him a shout out, but yeah, it’s that moment of, I’m [00:45:00] at this space with these people who are revered and well known for what they do.

And I’m having a conversation with them. So every time I’m in that space with them, I get reminded of the magnitude of this work and the importance of it. But yeah, I would say it was in 2014 when I heard Kenji speak and I was like, Mind blown by the system and the policy behind what it is that we need to do.

Justin Hewett: I love that. That’s fantastic. That was, it was great. We actually got a two for one and in our lightning round, we usually ask, is there a particular author or speaker who has influenced you the most? And I think you got that one too. So that was a two for Mandi. I’ll let you ask our next one here. 

Mandi Morris: Yeah. If you were to give one piece of advice to an ML educator, what advice would you give?

Erick Casallas: The advice is know who that student is, know what they come with and know who they are. I, I don’t know why I’m getting emotional. I’m like saying that and I’m like, my very first day teaching, I had this student, her name was Jasmine and she knocked on my door [00:46:00] and I still talk to her to this day, 23 years later.

But she was a struggling kiddo, her parents were separated, she had been in the U. S. since kindergarten and so forth, but I knew who she was, I saw her, right? And I followed her, and I tracked her, and I made sure I went to her middle school graduation, her high school graduation, and it was just one of those moments of, you have to know who your kids are.

And it’s impossible to do that with every single one of them, right? But, You, when you do that with some, you start seeing patterns and trends and kids. And now that I’m at this like district level, I don’t have that personal connection with students, but I’m like, I know students like you. And I know people like you because it’s as much as it’s a teaching experience, it’s a human experience as well.

And we are able to just make those connections. Sorry, I got a little emotional up there for a second, but I’m good. 

Mandi Morris: It’s emotional work, bringing kids and. I love the balance that you bring because when we think about our work being like, a school district I worked with in Oregon, a lot of our professional learning was about [00:47:00] hand, head and heart and how the work and education is all of those things.

And I think that you bring so much of that and the humanity, like you were saying to the work that we do is like the head is the strategy. Like you’ve got to be strategic about the work that you’re doing and the hands is you’ve got to do the thing, but that heart piece is real and present with you. So I appreciate you.

Being able to show up in that way. 

Justin Hewett: I love it too. I love it because to me, that’s, this work really matters. And if it doesn’t move you, you probably shouldn’t be in it, right? That’s the way that I feel. That’s why I’m here. There’s a lot of different places we could all be and things that we could be doing.

But I love the idea of being able to impact the individual student. And I love hearing you, you speak to that and highlight your students and really know them, take the time to get to know them. That could have answered this one too, but I’m going to ask you it anyways, which is what is one practice, Erick, that you see that you would like to see [00:48:00] implemented more often?

Erick Casallas: The one practice that students need is that we need to get them Speaking more. We do so much sometimes teaching is so transactional. Like I write my lesson plan. I deliver a lesson plan and I teacher feel like I did a great job, but how are the students invested in that transaction that you’re offering them?

And if they’re not speaking and they’re not like producing the language. then they’re not learning and they’re bored and their heads are down and they’re falling asleep and they’d rather be on their phones. Let’s face it, we’re living in a, I’d rather be on my phone than listen to you, like society. How do I beat that?

And that means that I need to build confidence and I need to make sure that I can speak to something. So whether it be, you know, At the very like beginning stages, picture cards, and then I can focus on four pictures and create a sequence, and then I can defend an argument. That is what we want all students to be able to do.

So just get the students to speak, and not just like in social language, but in academic language. That is, to [00:49:00] me, the social button equity piece that our ELs need in our nation’s instructional practice. 

Justin Hewett: Oh, I love hearing you say that, that obviously speaks to me, talking about speaking. We spoke with Erick Olivas, another Erick, very talented as well.

And it was really interesting talking with him about his experience. And he said that when he was growing up as an English learner and really where he gained confidence in learning English or in using his English was when it came time to present something. And he had to put in the work. And then he had to present it.

And it was those kinds of situations that really helped him build his confidence. And I think that’s what I hear you saying is, look, we need our students speaking more. We need our English learners speaking more. Put them in a situation where they’ve got to speak. And I served a mission in the Philippines.

For a couple of years after high school. And the only way you learn the language is by speaking it. You got to say all the dumb things. You got to say it wrong before you can say it right. A lot of times. And you just have to be willing to take that [00:50:00] chance. And for some of our students, they need to be put in a position where they have to take the chance.

And so I love that. I love hearing that from you, Erick, what an amazing conversation. I feel like I’ve learned so much from you. I’m took. Two pages of notes here, and I can’t wait to go back and listen to this again and see what else I can pull out of it. Thank you so much for taking the time to come and be here with us on the ML chat podcast.

Erick Casallas: Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me. You mentioned the love for this work is too, like I, my first language was Spanish and my second language was English and they just blend it together. And my parents did a good job of trying to like AmErickanize us and get us listening to pop music in the eighties.

The best decade ever. But. Not everybody has that experience. So I, and I have to know that my students come with a different like home life and so forth. Yeah. But it’s, it’s been a pleasure to be in this space and really just talk about the work because we’re all, our common denominator amongst all of us as we cross pollinate our work is that we all want the same outcomes for our kiddos.

And we want them to be successful and be at the table and be in those spaces [00:51:00] where they’re represented and seen. 

Justin Hewett: I love that. I love that. Clark County. Students, English multilingual students are lucky to have you as their advocate and as their leader. And Erick Casallas, thank you so much for being here as a guest on the ML Chat podcast.