Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: [00:00:00] Communities that historically really didn’t have our EL/ML students are now having the opportunity to work with these amazing students, but may not necessarily have as many teachers or administrators with particular pre-service or in-service training on how to do 

Mandi Morris: that. Welcome to the ML Chat Podcast.

I’m Mandi Morris, your host Today’s guest was Dr. Megan Alubiki-Flick. She has a diverse and expansive experience in the world of ML education. She taught in Finland, studied education policy in the European Union, and has been working for many years in Connecticut’s Department of Education. It was such an interesting conversation today, and I’m sure that you’ll really enjoy it.

Let’s go. Megan, welcome to the ML Chat podcast. I’m really excited to have you here today and talk about your very interesting journey in the world of ML [00:01:00] education. 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: Glad to be here. Thank you so much for having me. 

Mandi Morris: So Megan, you have worked in a lot of different capacities in ML education, both domestically and internationally, and I’m so excited about digging into those.

But before we go there, tell us some about the work that you’re doing today, and then we’ll go and learn what brought you to where you are today. 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: So for the last, over 16 years now, I have worked at the Connecticut State Department of Education. And for the vast majority of that time, I have served as the Title III state director.

So in that capacity, I oversee the federal Title III grant for the state, as well as our state’s bilingual grant. Of course, part of the Title III grant is the immigrant sub-grant, so I oversee that as well. And then the associated programs and activities, like professional learning and supporting districts and schools, and of course, educators in those spaces around the implementation of those grants and [00:02:00] serving English learners, multilingual learners.

Just as we’re getting started, just to clarify that in Connecticut, we use the term EL, or English learner, multilingual learner synonymously with English learner. And we do that to be more assets-oriented, to recognize that our English learners are multilingual and possess those language skills. So when I say EL, I’m referring to the federally designated group of students known as English learners.

And then also, I oversee our state’s Seal of Biliteracy program. There’s a variety of work that comes with those tasks. It’s an amazing job. I love it. I’m really passionate in working with our ML students and on their behalf. And it allows me to work both with my colleagues in the State Department of Education and around the state in those schools and districts, because our English learner, multilingual learner students are everywhere.

So whether that means I’m working with our [00:03:00] Turnaround office that works with our districts that we have the most significant touch with, or our, our Office of Student Supports and Wraparound Services Or our performance office that’s working with assessment and data, or our special education office.

There’s a space for supporting and advocating for our EL/ML students in all of those spaces. So I try to get to those tables, if you will, and to be a part of those conversations on behalf of our students. 

Mandi Morris: Tell me a little bit about, right, what does school look like in Connecticut? What does school look like for English learners in Connecticut?

And of course, it’s gonna vary by county and building, but if there’s someone listening like me that I’m not that familiar with what ML education looks and feels like in Connecticut or what your priorities are, tell us a little bit about your state. 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: Yeah, Connecticut is an interesting place. Probably everybody that comes here may say that about their context.

I think it’s always interesting to learn about different contexts. But Connecticut, I think, is pretty [00:04:00] unique in that it’s very small. I think we’re the third-smallest state, so you can really get from point A, wherever it is, to point B, wherever it is, within a couple hours anywhere around the state. You can always have face time.

I- that’s a big asset, I think, for someone in my role. I actually can have face time in district with- teachers, with administrators. I actually get to know the field and have a personal professional relationship with them, so that’s a real asset. There are, in this tiny little place, over 200 school districts, so that also is a unique aspect of Connecticut.

And within those over 200 school districts, there are approximately 60,000 ELML students. The vast majority of those students reside in our large urban school districts, but we’ve seen more of a diffusion of our ELML [00:05:00] students across the, a broader range of contexts around the state, so that we do see more LML students across our more suburban and rural communities.

So that means that communities that historically really didn’t have our ELML students are now having the opportunity to work with these amazing students, but may not necessarily have as many teachers or administrators with particular pre-service or in-service training on how to do that. So there’s a little bit of a, a mismatch in terms of their training and the students that may be sitting in those seats.

And so that is a challenge of practice both for the districts and for us at the state department to ensure that we’re supporting our districts to ensure that they can support, in turn, their students. Our f- most prominent language is Spanish. Absolutely by far, that’s the most [00:06:00] prominent language. And our students that speak Spanish primarily come from Puerto Rico.

Our next most prominent language is Portuguese, and then we- our, our languages at the top do shift, but Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Polish. We have several different languages from India That are at the top of our languages. And we see an interesting shift, like I said, in the languages that are becoming more prominent.

We see those shifts with different migration patterns and different kind of world events that are happening in terms of which students are coming in from which places. So it’s a very interesting context statewide for our EL/ML students. 

Mandi Morris: It does feel unique that you can drive anywhere in your state in two hours and being at state level, and that it would feel so many layers removed f- because there’s just so much that you’re having to manage.

But it does feel very unique in, in the situation that you’re [00:07:00] describing where because you have a small state, that you’re able to really get to know your, your people from all across the state. I think that’s really interesting and just such a, an interesting context. My home state is Florida, so when you say drive two hours, I’m like, “Oh, you’re from where I am.

You’re in Jacksonville.” You’re in like a tiny little dent into the state, but that is really unique. All right, Megan, take us back in time. How did you find your path into education? What drove you into education? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: I like talking about this. My path, I think, was not a traditional one. But in a sense, I was always on the path toward education because my parents are educators and were educators.

And at my din- my dinner table, in my home conversation, the education and school was, like, the topic. I distinctly remember my mom, like, preparing classroom activities at home and [00:08:00] th- that sort of thing. My mom was a Head Start teacher. My dad was a kindergarten teacher, and my stepmother was a class- was a, a district level administrator.

And so I grew up with my family being really engaged in the education space. And I had decided that was not going to be what I did because I wanted to make my mark and do my thing, and it was going to be very different. And so I decided I was going to study a very different field, and that was going to be social work and Spanish.

And I say that I’m joking because it is different certainly, but it is adjacent. And I have found that it was incredibly– it was a real gift that I unknowingly gave myself studying social work and Spanish prior to diving fully into education because I learned so much that I apply to education now. So my undergrad was in social work and Spanish, and then I had studied abroad and in Costa [00:09:00] Rica, and I was just enamored by the idea of living abroad and experiencing different cultures and meeting new people and diverse backgrounds and just seeing more of the world.

But in order for me to do that, I needed a job. And so I found a job teaching English in Finland. I had a f- I got a fellowship through the American Scandinavian Foundation, and I moved to Finland to teach English. And that is where I embarked on my teaching career. And I got there and started doing this work, and I was like: What was I thinking?

I am a teacher. I need to do this, but I don’t have a teaching degree. And so I did it a little backwards. I had that experience. It was wonderful. Of course, you I’m sure know that Finland is very world-renowned as being a wonderful place for education, so what a wonderful place and what a great opportunity it was for me to learn there from them and be able [00:10:00] to experience that, that space.

And so I was there for a little over a year, and then I came home and I studied applied linguistics, TESOL, and got my teaching credential so that I could become an ESL teacher. And then I embarked on my own certified teacher journey in the Hartford Public Schools. And so I did become an educator after all, and I really, I haven’t looked back.

It’s a profession that I really love, and I really don’t know what I was thinking that I didn’t wanna do it. 

Mandi Morris: I love that when you think back, like your 18, 19-year-old version of rebellion was like, you know, not something totally different, but just rebellious enough. It’s not, “I’m not studying education. I’m doing something different than my parents.”

You know, there you found your way anyway to where you belonged. I’d love to hear, it’s been a little while, right, since you were in Finland and had that experience teaching. But when you think back in hindsight, and you went from that [00:11:00] experience and then had pretty closely an experience to moving into the public school system in the US, what were the most stark contrasts that stood out to you?

Do you have memories of, wow, in Finland, they treated education like … and that was really incredible, or that really stood out in contrast to how we see aspects of education or how we treat education as a society? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: That’s a great question. So it was 25 years ago that I was in Finland. I actually arrived just before 9/11 occurred, so it was a, it was just a, a very interesting time, you know, to be there.

It was just very impactful for many reasons. And I will say that one thing that really stuck out to me, re- education as a system was incredibly revered and incredibly valued. And a- something that really struck me in Finland is how there was this, I don’t know if it’s innate, but this, like, cultural value around an, an understanding [00:12:00] that students Knew what they had to do.

The expectation is that they were going to school when they needed to go. They were going to get this strong collection of fundamental ideas, and the teachers were equipped to, to build those skills with them and serve as their guides in doing that. I’m not sure that’s not the case here, but it just was very different.

There were so many– There’s just so many differences. Students arrived at the time that their first lesson began. School didn’t begin at the same time for every student. This is an elementary school. Students left when their lessons ended, but the school day didn’t end at the same time for all students.

Students went about their day on a schedule that was based on their own needs and that sort of thing. It didn’t, it wasn’t following a classroom schedule. It was a unique schedule for the each individual student, and they just went about it as they needed to. But [00:13:00] all students were learning these kind of fundamental things.

There wasn’t a great deal of leveled instruction. There were, there was just really a focus on fundamental instruction. And so I found that very interesting. But I will say that what ha- The educational system in the United States and the educational system in Finland don’t feel like it, there’s an apples to apples comparison.

There’s so many differences culturally that it is hard. I– With that said, though, I do think that we can look at the educational systems and identify some ways that we could learn from them, from the two. 

Mandi Morris: I think that’s a really important call-out. It’s easy when we see reports from different countries like, “These students are excelling in math.

These students are excelling in reading,” or, “This country knows exactly what education looks like and feels like that works.” And it’s never– Anyone who’s been in the classroom, anybody who’s been in education knows it’s never that simple. If a [00:14:00] country’s figured out education for their situation, the odds are that that might not out or play out in a different place in exactly the same way.

But something that stood out to me when you were talking was, that was the word that I was thinking. It’s like there’s a trust of the adult is gonna do what needs to be done, and we trust that they’re professional and they’re well-trained and they’re well-equipped and they’re going to show up and do their job well.

But trust on the student’s end as well, that you have some independence to make it through your day and move through your day. But we’re also, with responsibility comes that you have to show up in a certain way and you have to, there’s just an expectation and trust around you doing what’s expected of you as a student.

And that does, to me There’s something about that essence that feels a little bit different, I think, from a lot of how our education is just … I taught middle school for years, right? So it’s like, this is your day, and you’re, you have seven periods, and you have to go. It doesn’t matter if you hate that class.

You’re going to that class. It doesn’t matter, [00:15:00] like. So that, that stood out to me, uh, as an area of interest, just having students having maybe a little bit more autonomy in, in their day. I wonder if you have anything more to add to that or any thoughts? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: Really, other than I absolutely agree. I think that is something that I appreciate that you took that away from what I was saying, because I would entirely agree with that.

There’s this reverence for the field, and this shared, shared responsibility, I would say, and trust. So a shared trust and a shared responsibility, a shared ownership around the education of students for the students, the families, and the, the educators, and that shared buy-in, it, it worked. It– I just saw it as being a, a very effective system, and it was engaging.

It was, it certainly, it was, it made me want to enter the field. 

Mandi Morris: Absolutely. Okay. So you came back, you got your cert, you’re in K12 education. [00:16:00] What type of classroom do you land in first? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: I didn’t actually land in a classroom. I became a district-wide SL teacher, so this is, like, quite a unique first job. My actual desk was at central office, which was unusual, of course.

My role was not a central office job. It was just, uh, where should she have a desk, because she’s going to be responsible for doing work at a variety of different schools. And I was responsible for serving students at the schools at the time that had very small populations of EL students. At that time, there were 10 s- 10 schools.

So I really got to know the city well. I got to know the small roads. I was traveling from school to school all the time, the back roads. I did a lot of testing and screening and identifying or, or not [00:17:00] students when they entered, because there were students that were coming in throughout the year. And then I tried my best to provide the services that I could, but there were 10 schools.

So it allowed me to get good experience on working in a variety of different school buildings, on screening students, on providing parent notification, on being able to do some different, different strategies, using different scheduling techniques, different, different strategies, different pedagogy, that sort of thing, annual assessments.

I was able to do those things. What I didn’t have the opportunity to do in that position was really build relationships, because I just didn’t have the opportunity to connect enough with my students. So I would say to the degree that I could, I worked to build relationships. But when you’re servicing 10 schools- It didn’t allow me to really wholeheartedly connect with students the way I could [00:18:00] if I had been at one or perhaps two.

So that was my first position. 

Mandi Morris: That is a very unique position. You would basically be at a school once every two weeks, but probably not even, because once you add in holidays and a teacher duty day, you wouldn’t- 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: I actually went more frequently, but for less time. So I might visit three schools in a day, and it was unusual.

Mandi Morris: And okay, so you do that for a time. You are the best person in the school district at screening students by the end of that You know how to assess. You’ve got the data component down. But I imagine your heart’s wanting to get into the relationship instruction classroom. So where do you pivot from there?

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: One way that I did have an opportunity to build relationships at that time was I was also doing adult ESL classes, and that was really rewarding. I would do those courses in the evening, and oftentimes they, the students there were the adults of students in the [00:19:00] district. So I, some of the students that I worked with during the day, their parents or their family members were in those classes, and that was an incredibly rewarding experience.

At the time, many of the students were refugees from North Africa, and it was just absolutely remarkable to see these individuals that had so many skills but had limited access to education, especially the women, some of whom had never held a pencil in their lives, but had these incredible skills. For instance, they would weave baskets and these handmade items while they were in class learning.

And so they had this incredible fine motor, but they just hadn’t been in schools before. And to watch them develop their language, acclimate to a culture and climate, for that matter, that was completely different than the one they had come from, and then find jobs, and it, it was just, it was incredibly rewarding.

And occasionally I will still [00:20:00] see a few of those people out and about in town, which is just amazing. So that, I was doing that at the same time. I also, I knew while I was doing this work that I really was very interested in policy, and I love working directly with students, both adults and children. But I also have that desire to work in the policy space and the big picture.

I really desire that. And so I had put my feelers out looking into a Fulbright grant, and I was very, very lucky to actually get a Fulbright grant to do language policy research in the European Union. So I reached out to the superintendent of that, that school district at the time, ’cause I was not a tenured teacher, and I said, just, uh, just to put out my feelers, and I said, “I know that you can’t officially say this, but I would like to go and do [00:21:00] this for a year, and I would l- you know, I wonder if perhaps I could come back after the year and keep teaching.”

And he said, “You’re right. I can’t give you something in writing to say yes, but we believe in research and scholarship and this type of advancement for our staff. And if you come back-” We will find you a place. And that was very instrumental in my professional growth because that was my intention, and that’s what I did.

So I did, I got the Fulbright. It was an amazing experience, and then I ultimately did go back to that school district. 

Mandi Morris: What a cool opportunity that the district afforded you. If they had said no, it’s not that you wouldn’t have done it, right? Maybe you would’ve still done it, but knowing, having some security at that point in your career that you could come back, that made it, I’m sure, easier to make that jump.

But we’ve gotta talk about a year that you got to study policy. This is … I have … This is [00:22:00] a dream in my own, like, professional journey in education. I would have just jumped at an opportunity to do something like this. I also find education policy very interesting, and I think there are a lot of different ways to make an impact in education, no matter the seat that you sit in.

I actually had a conversation with someone recently that I think was feeling a little bit discouraged about the ability to enact change or to have imba- impact in education because the system is so big, and there’s so much red tape and so much bureaucracy. But I- I imagine you would feel the same. I’ve seen incredible impact that individuals have had in education, whether it’s a teacher in a classroom that has a trickle-down effect because she’s mentoring other teachers.

If it’s an admin that sets a tone for an entire building and how they shift a mindset to be asset driven instead of deficit driven. There’s so many big and small wins a- across school districts, but policy’s an area [00:23:00] of interest because you at least have this idea that you can make bigger trickle-down change through policy.

Did you find what you were hoping to find when you did your year that you were able to dive into policy? How did it shape your thinking or change your thinking? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: It was really remarkable and instrumental in my professional journey. If I’m totally honest, I’m not sure I know, I knew or know what I was hoping to find.

I really went with a blank slate, like I just wanted to learn, and it was really a privilege. And I w- I wanna be open and say that I recognize I was in a position of privilege to be able, at that time in my life, to take the opportunity to go. And I was not working toward a degree at the time. My personal life was such that I was able [00:24:00] to essentially go for a year.

And of course you, you are, you receive a stipend for your living expenses and that sort of thing. But it was something that was, that put wind in my sails as a professional, as a person. I wanted to know more about language policy, and I wanted to better understand it from the perspective of places that in my opinion, are doing kind of innovative things for students, and more broadly, just for citizens.

And so yes, did I learn? Did I walk away with this illuminated ideas about language policy? Absolutely. I was in Belgium first, and then I was in Sweden. I had proposed those places y- for specific reasons. Belgium has this, for one, it’s like the county seat, but it’s like the, the country seat of the European Commission, and I was at the– I was there f- for the [00:25:00] European Union, was my site for my Fulbright.

So that was one reason. That’s where all of the international work for the European Commission is situated, or much of it is situated there in Brussels. But also, Belgium’s really two language communities, like the, the French-speaking and the Dutch-speaking language communities. And their schools operate, like there’s the French-speaking lang- community, and then the Dutch-speaking community.

So it’s two countries in one. But they, of course, have a national identity as Belgian people, but they have two different newspapers that aren’t just different languages. There’s different content. There’s different cultural information. There’s different cultural foods and things. They’re Belgian first, but there’s a lot associated with their language, too.

So this was quite fascinating to learn about the unique language situation in Belgium, and then go into schools [00:26:00] and their county offices and things, and interview people about what learning language means in those spaces. And then Sweden was really interesting as well, because that is such an egalitarian system.

It is, like Finland, very valued internationally as a highly successful education system. Students come out of it highly educated. There is a priority for all students to be well-educated, but the priority is this egalitarian focus. And so that’s really what I was looking at there. And so I went into a variety of different, different school districts there as well, and interviewed people.

And it was just Fascinating. Looking at what policy at the European Union level means when it trickles down into local government, and then ultimately into schools and classrooms. 

Mandi Morris: What an experience. So what… I’m just, I’m stuck on [00:27:00] Belgium, and this is so interesting. I love what you’re calling out that it was not the same newspaper translated or transadopted.

It was like, no, these are, like, different newspapers with different content created for different language communities within the same country. When you spoke and said they were Belgium first, so my takeaway from that is that there wasn’t friction in having two dominant languages, that this was, was this maybe even a point of pride of their nationality, that we have sustained two distinct language groups and cultures within our country?

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: Well, I would say so to a degree, but I wanna make clear and position myself as an outsider. I don’t feel like it’s my role to say, “This is what Belgian people think,” because I’m not Belgian. This was my experience as an outsider there. I think, frankly, there is a little bit of friction, but there’s also national pride, a [00:28:00] great deal of national pride.

There’s some friction in that if you go into the French-speaking area, they’re not also learning Dutch, and vice versa. So in Brussels, that’s very trilingual. So there’s French, there’s Dutch, and there’s actually English as well. Even if you’re in, like, a service job or, like, a, like, a, a shopkeeper or in a restaurant, they would– it’s pretty typical that you’d be trilingual for any type of work in that space, in the Brussels central region.

But when you’re going to one of those other regions, you’re speaking one language or the other. So there is a little bit of, “We speak this and not this.” But by the same token, I did get the impression there is a lot of national pride. And so that’s my impression, but I don’t wanna over-speak or over-generalize as, as an outsider, even though o- even though I was, was there, it’s probably not mine to, to say.

Mandi Morris: Your time, [00:29:00] Megan, internationally, having the opportunity to see what policy looks like at a centralized location for the EU, and then go to Sweden and see what that looks like in application, I wonder what takeaways or learnings happened during that time that have impacted you in the work that you do today?

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: I think one major takeaway is that policy is influenced by context. There– Even when we are trying to be our most objective, there’s always going to be interpretation and application. We– Another thing that stands out from when I was there, and I always think of, it’s been so long now, it’s been 18 years since I’ve been there, so that was just a little bit before I, I started my position at the state, State Department of Education in Connecticut, is that we have to think about unintended consequences, and it’s essential to consider those when we’re considering policy.

And that’s [00:30:00] something that I learned from my time abroad while I was doing the Fulbright, and then I’ve relearned over and again while at the state. Oftentimes, we make policy, and we’re thinking about the students or the people that the policy applies to, but there’s very commonly another group that we may not have thought of or an, or an extenuating circumstance or this situations that you, that may not have occurred to you that may make the policy problematic.

And that’s been a learning that’s been helpful. Those feel that’s, those are areas, uh, for growth as a professional, and those are things that are very important when you’re in the space of policy to ensure that you’re being thoughtful at the onset so that we don’t make mistakes that we then have to follow through on.

Like, when making an error that we then are, quote unquote, [00:31:00] stuck with. So I’d say that those are, like, kind of big learnings that I’ve taken away and applied in, in my work even now. 

Mandi Morris: When you think about that philosophy or approach, it would … You know that expression, like, “Don’t let great get in the way of good enough”?

Along those lines. I wonder what your thoughts are. I imagine that must be a difficult part of working at the state level, that any profession you’re in, any position you’re in, there’s a certain amount of trade-offs, right? Y- you’re not gonna make everybody happy all of the time. You’re not gonna always get the cake and the icing, too.

There, there’s just a certain amount that inherent in work that we do that can feel like trade-offs. How do you balance that in your current work, trying to and consider what’s the ripple effect? What’s the impact on marginalized groups? Or what’s the impact on parents that I might not be thinking about, or impact on duly identified students that I might not be thinking about, while [00:32:00] also that tension and need to keep the work moving and going?

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: That’s a great question. I do think that’s challenging, but it is something that we’re, it’s incumbent upon us to consider, and if we don’t, then who will? I don’t think that those extenuating circumstances or unique scenarios are a rationale to discontinue the good work that we’re doing. I think that they’re reasons to keep going and to keep pushing ahead, and to continue to advocate for especially historically marginalized students like our EL/ML students.

If we are thinking about those circumstances, again, like at the forefront, then we’re more likely to be impacting better policy at the beginning. We’re more likely to be making good decisions in the f- at, at the beginning. But [00:33:00] with that said, I feel like that’s a little bit of a pie in the sky statement because nowadays the– we– I’ve encountered circumstances where I’ve had to say, “Okay, I– this is not what I want to do.

Like, but I want this to cross the finish line, and so if you’re telling me that I have to make adjustments to this resource in order to get it across the finish line, I’m going to do it because I believe in the quality of this, this resource, and so I’m going to do it because ultimately the benefit for the field outweighs my, my s- my, my value stance.”

And that is– that’s a challenge. That’s a challenge that I’ve talked through with colleagues and with people in my personal life. It– that is a challenge, but it’s one that I believe we could rest on our laurels and stand on our high horses and, and not make anything move forward, or We can do what we [00:34:00] can, do our best, and move things along to the degree that we can.

We can think about our sphere of influence, and we can operate within it to the degree that we can, and at least something will move along, and we will still be advocating for our students. And so I choose to take that approach. 

Mandi Morris: Yeah. I- education is such a special field in the sense that when you think about a lot of the people drawn to the field, it’s because they have so much care in their hearts.

They wanna do good work, and they wanna do it for the right reasons. They wanna serve children and families. I think we might also be a bit altruistic sometimes as a profession. What you’re saying is also, I think, important. It’s the reality of the trade-offs or the compromise to keep the good work moving forward, to be able to impact students and families in the most positive way possible.

I love what you said, your sphere of influence. That’s also just a really powerful way of thinking about how you… It’s a mindset, [00:35:00] right? Like, when you think about a sphere of influence, it’s really a mindset of accepting the things that you can’t change, too. I would love to hear you talk some about your TED Talk.

We haven’t gone there at all yet, and I just would love to hear you unpack that. How did you become in a position to have a TED Talk? What was it about? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: Unsurprisingly, it was about multilingualism. That’s my jam. I sometimes, I’m sure you’re, you’ve had these experiences too, where you, in your life, you’re like, “How did this happen?”

And this was one for me. I, the, the TED organization reached out to me, and it was a, a cold call, and they invited me to attend their, their TED Conference, their annual conference. And I believe that was because at the time, I was the president of the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators, NAELPA, which is an amazing organization that I would encourage people to check out.

I was the [00:36:00] president of that organization for- two terms. So I believe it was during my first term 

Mandi Morris: that 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: happened, and that was a really life-changing event. It was really incredible to go. And that wasn’t education specific. In fact, it really didn’t have much to do with education, the conference. It was really, there was just a lot of just innovators, and these were people that were presenting their, their TED Talks in the traditional, like when you watch a TED Talk, for the most part, on that big TED stage, and there’s thousands of people in the audience.

And many of them were about science and space and just topics that are super fascinating, but very outside my area of expertise. But there was a small group of us, I think five or six people, that were there as guests of TED-Ed, and we had been invited on behalf of organizations or, or entities that we were affiliated with.

[00:37:00] And so that happened, and then TED-Ed began d- doing TED-Ed educator talks. And so you had to submit an application about your idea and why your idea mattered, and what, why you thought you’d be the right person to talk about your idea, that sort of thing. I did. I was selected, and I had the opportunity to work with a coach, which was absolutely amazing, and I was able to present my TED Talk at the TED Studio in New York City, and now it’s on ted.com.

And it’s called The Power of Multilingualism in Education, and it talks about, I talk about how multilingualism is a valuable asset, and dual language program models of bilingualism are a rich way that we can acknowledge the multilingualism that many of our students already possess, and can [00:38:00] bring our monolingual speakers up to have this skill that much of the world already possesses.

And it, yeah, it just, it was a really cool opportunity, and I still look back and think, “How did this happen?” But I’m really honored that it did. 

Mandi Morris: I feel like that’s one of the phone calls you would get. Is this a prank call? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: I really didn’t kn- I was like, “Oh my good- goodness. What? Who is this?” It really was that kind of thing.

We were supposed to go on a family vacation that, that overlapped, and so I was like, “I don’t think I can do this.” And my husband was like, “You need- We will make an adjustment.” He’s, “What are you talking about? We will adjust our trip.” And w- we did. We did adjust it. And yeah, so the rest is history. 

Mandi Morris: Wow, that is so cool.

And we will find your TED Talk and be sure to link that in this pod as well as that. And it sounds like you have so much passion about the work that you do, and your experience is just really [00:39:00] interesting, and it seems all very connected. You’ve continued to learn and to explore. What’s next for you? Like, when you think about what you’re working on right now that you feel really excited about or passionate about, or work that you’re in the middle of that you feel like this is gonna make a difference, this is important work.

What do you have going on, and what’s next? 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: I am still jazzed and deeply engaged in the work that I’m doing in my job. I love it. I believe in it. I am just fully invested in our state, in our amazing- brilliant English learner and multilingual learner population and their families. There’s so much work to do.

There’s, there’s lots of great work that’s happened, but there’s just so much more that can be done. And so I am excited to keep that going. So I feel like, like I look forward to going to work. I look forward to continuing the work that I do. Something [00:40:00] that’s really exciting is just this last December, the s- the Connecticut State Board of Education adopted an, a state English learner/multilingual learner framework that really outlines our priorities for our EL/ML population, and it really focuses on four principles and then a range of indicators, and then four key roles, including the State Department of Education, administrators, classroom educators, et cetera.

And that shared responsibility for all the people in those roles and what they can do to make sure that we can promote the success of our ELs and MLs. So I’m excited to help enact that framework. We know that a document only goes so far. Like the creation of a document, it can become a paperweight, frankly.

And so now it’s time to make that rubber hit the road with that framework. So if I’m thinking about like what I’m [00:41:00] really excited about doing right now, it’s making that framework come to life By building out professional learning, by building out systems that put action where the words are. And I think we have– we’re building, like, mechanisms to make that happen.

So I’m excited about that. I’m excited in NYELPA. I’m the co-chair of our AMP committee, which is the, the Advocating for Multilingual Learner Policy and Practice. I don’t think I… I get confused about the, the acronym, but I should know it. I’m the co-chair along with Dr. Julie Sugarman from the Migration Policy Institute.

It’s a great committee, so we are always working with our committee members on different hot topics and current events, trying to keep our NYELPA informed, and think about projects for the committee that are of high interest and high need. So that keeps me going, too. And on top of that, I’m always [00:42:00] thinking about what else is next.

I like national work and collaborating with colleagues and things. So I’m open to other things, but I’m excited to keep those things that I have going. 

Mandi Morris: You are busy. You’re, like, listing off different– Your job in and of itself feels like it would be a lot, and then your work with NYELPA. I don’t know if there’s another profession that has as many acronyms as education, so.

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: Right? Seriously. 

Mandi Morris: We really are full, we are full of acronyms. Megan, it’s been such a pleasure to talk with you today. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you. Are there any conferences that you’ll be at coming up, or if people wanna connect, they can connect with you through your work at NYELPA? Or do you present at conferences or visit any throughout the year?

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: Periodically I do. I hope to attend the NYELPA conference. We co-conference with NABE. I’m hoping to attend NABE as well. We– So we are essentially in the same location, and we, NYELPA, is immediately before NABE. If folks [00:43:00] attend the NABE conference, that’s National Association of Bilingual Education, and you’re looking for a small, intimate conference before, NYELPA is a really nice opportunity to have a very intimate space prior to the NABE’s very large, thousands of people kind of conference.

I think they’re a really nice kind of co-conference opportunity. So I’m hoping to be at both of those, and I’m mostly around Connecticut other than that. I would love to be out more, so we’ll see. Fingers crossed, but never entirely sure. But I’d love to connect with people also LinkedIn, and people certainly can reach out to me via email 

Mandi Morris: as well.

Wonderful. Megan, thank you so much for making time for us during this very busy back to school season. We are so thankful. 

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick: It was my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. It was really nice talking to you. I enjoyed chatting and sharing information. This is clearly my passion, and I really appreciate the [00:44:00] opportunity.