From Equity Insights to Action: Critical Strategies for Teaching Multilingual Learners

About the Book

Your Greatest Assets are Right Before Your Eyes: Your Multilingual Learners!

Equity for multilingual learners (MLLs) means that students’ cultural and linguistic identities, backgrounds, and experiences are recognized as valued, rich sources of knowledge and their academic, linguistic, literacy, and social–emotional growth is ensured to the fullest potential. This ready-to-use guide offers practical, classroom-level strategies for educators seeking thoughtful, research-informed, and accessible information on how to champion equity for MLLs in a post-COVID era.

Focused on the deliberate daily actions that all teachers of multilingual learners can take, this resource guide captures a compelling advocacy framework for culturally and linguistically responsive equity work, including

• Authentic examples of how educators understand and support MLLs through an equity lens
• Student portraits of multilingual learners’ experiences
• Accessible answers to essential how-to questions
• Robust professional learning activities
• Access to print and online resources for additional information

Thoughtful probes throughout the guide help teachers develop student agency and foster pathways in their own practice and communication with multilingual learners.  

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments About the Authors About the Illustrator CHAPTER 1. ESTABLISH YOUR WHY THE URGENCY WHO ARE MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS? WHAT IS EQUITY? HOW THIS BOOK GUIDES EQUITY WORK FOR MLS CHAPTER ORGANIZATION WHY EVERY EDUCATOR SHOULD READ THIS BOOK REFLECTIONS AND ACTIONS KEY RESOURCES CHAPTER 2. AMPLIFY THE TALENTS, SPIRITS, AND PERSONAL POWERS OF MLS THE URGENCY TALK WITH AND LISTEN TO YOUR STUDENTS STUDENT PORTRAITS LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD AMPLIFY MLS’ TALENTS, NURTURE THEIR GIFTS, AND UPLIFT THEIR SPIRITS MULTILINGUAL CONSCIOUSNESS: A PATHWAY TO EQUITY EQUITY MOVES TO BOLSTER STUDENTS’ TALENTS BRIDGES TO EQUITABLE PRACTICES: INFUSING THE SPIRIT OF LEARNING EQUITY IN ACTION PARTING THOUGHTS REFLECTIONS AND ACTIONS KEY RESOURCES CHAPTER 3. RECALIBRATE THE CURRICULUM TO ACCELERATE LEARNING FOR MLS THE URGENCY STUDENT PORTRAITS LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD RECALIBRATING THE CURRICULUM TALK WITH AND LISTEN TO YOUR STUDENTS EQUITY IN ACTION PARTING THOUGHTS REFLECTIONS AND ACTIONS KEY RESOURCES CHAPTER 4. TEACH AND ASSESS TO BUILD STUDENT AUTONOMY, AGENCY, AND RESILIENCE THE URGENCY STUDENT PORTRAITS LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD LET’S TEACH THE WAY STUDENTS LEARN LET’S TEACH THE WAY STUDENTS CAN SUCCEED EQUITY-INFORMED, INTEGRATED APPROACHES TO PLANNING INSTRUCTION FOR MLS TALK WITH AND LISTEN TO YOUR STUDENTS EQUITABLE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES EQUITY IN ACTION PARTING THOUGHTS REFLECTIONS AND ACTIONS KEY RESOURCES CHAPTER 5. HARNESS THE POWER OF CONNECTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS THE URGENCY STUDENT PORTRAITS LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD OUR CONNECTED RESPONSIBILITY TO STUDENTS SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING IN SUPPORT OF EQUITY STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING CONNECTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING CONNECTIONS BEYOND THE CLASSROOM TALK WITH AND LISTEN TO YOUR STUDENTS EQUITY IN ACTION PARTING THOUGHTS REFLECTIONS AND ACTIONS KEY RESOURCES References and Further Reading Index

About the Author :
Andrea Honigsfeld, EdD, is professor in the School of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. Before entering the field of teacher education, she was an English-as-a-foreign-language teacher in Hungary (Grades 5–8 and adult) and an English-as-a-second-language teacher in New York City (Grades K–3 and adult). She also taught Hungarian at New York University. She was the recipient of a doctoral fellowship at St. John’s University, New York, where she conducted research on individualized instruction. She has published extensively on working with multilingual learners and teacher collaboration. She received a Fulbright Award to lecture in Iceland in the fall of 2002. In the past 22 years, she has been presenting at conferences across the United States, China, Denmark, Japan, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.  She coauthored Differentiated Instruction for At-Risk Students (2009) and coedited the five-volume Breaking the Mold of Education series (2010–2013), published by Rowman and Littlefield. She is also the coauthor of Core Instructional Routines: Go-To Structures for Effective Literacy Teaching, K–5 and 6–12 (2014), Growing Language and Literacy (K-8 and 6-12, 2019, 2024 respectively) published by Heinemann. With Maria G. Dove, she coedited Coteaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations (2012), Co-Teaching for English Learners: Evidence-Based Practices and Research-Informed Outcomes (2020), Portraits of Collaboration: Educators Working Together to Support Multilingual Learners (2022), and coauthored Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (2010), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades K–5: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades 6–12: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014), Collaboration and Co-Teaching: A Leader’s Guide (2015), Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018), Collaborating for English Learners: A Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices (2019), and Co-Planning: 5 Essential Practices to Integrate Curriculum and Instruction for English Learners (2022). She is a contributing author of Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learner Success (2020), From Equity Insights to Action (2022), Digital-Age Teaching for English Learners (2022), Collaboration and Co-Teaching for Dual Language Learners: Transforming Programs for Multilingualism and Equity (2023), Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall: Essential Shifts for Multilingual Learners’ Success (2024), Collaboration for Multilingual Learners With Exceptionalities: We Share the Students (2024), Collaborative Assessment for Multilingual Learners and Teachers: Pathways to Partnerships (2025), and  Nine Dimensions of Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners (2026). Ten of her Corwin books are bestsellers. Maria G. Dove, EdD, is professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Molloy University, Rockville Centre, New York. She teaches preservice and inservice teachers about the research and best practices for implementing effective instruction for English learners, and she supports doctoral students in the EdD program in Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities.  Before entering the field of higher education, she worked for over thirty years as an English-as-a-second-language teacher in public school settings (Grades K–12) and in adult English language programs in the greater New York City area. She frequently provides professional development for educators throughout the United States on the teaching of multilingual learners. She also serves as a mentor for new ESOL teachers as well as an instructional coach for general-education teachers and literacy specialists. With Andrea Honigsfeld, she has coauthored multiple best-selling Corwin books, including Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (2010), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades K–5: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), and Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades 6–12: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Collaboration and Co-Teaching: A Leader’s Guide (2015), Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018). Along with other Corwin top-named authors, she coauthored Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learner Success (2020). In addition, she coedited, Coteaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations (2012) and Co-Teaching for English Learners: Evidence-Based Practices and Research-Informed Outcomes (2020) published by Information Age. With Audrey Cohan and Andrea Honigsfeld, she coauthored Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014) published by Corwin and Team Up, Speak Up, Fire Up: Educators, Students, and the Community Working Together to Support English Learners (2020) published by ASCD. Dr. Audrey Cohan is the Senior Dean for Research, Scholarship, and Graduate Studies at Molloy University, Rockville Centre, New York. She has been at Molloy University for twenty-nine years during which time she served as Professor, Chairperson of the Education Department, and Interim Dean for the Division of Natural Sciences. Dr. Cohan has taught in the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. She began her career as a special education teacher in New York City working with students with special needs in both self-contained and resource room settings. Her first book, published in 1995, was titled Sexual Harassment and Sexual Abuse: A Handbook for Teachers and Administrators. This co-authored book was an outgrowth of her dissertation work, which focused on child sexual abuse within schools. Dr. Cohan co-edited a five-volume Breaking the Mold series about educational innovation with Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles about English language learners. The textbook published in 2016, Serving English Language Learners earned the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) Most Promising New Textbook Award. Her other co-authored book publications include Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014), America’s Peace-minded Educator: John Dewey (2016), Team Up, Speak Up, Fire Up! Educators, Students, and the Community Working Together to Support English Learners (2020), and From Equity Insights to Action (2022). While at Molloy University, Dr. Cohan has been the recipient of the Faculty Leadership Award, the Faculty Recognition Award, the Molloy University Research Award, and the Distinguished Service Award.   Carrie McDermott Goldman, EdD is professor and Director of Graduate and Post Graduate Teacher Education Programs at Molloy University′s School of Education and Human Services (Rockville Centre, NY), brings over two decades of experience to her role teaching pre-service and in-service teachers. Before entering higher education, she taught multilingual learners across elementary, middle, and high school settings, as well as adult learners. Her career demonstrates a commitment to transforming education through innovative teaching, mentorship, and promoting equitable learning opportunities for all students. Her areas of expertise include culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies, teaching English to students of other languages (grades PK-12 and adults), curriculum development, program development and restructuring, co-teaching, multi-tiered systems of support, and teacher mentoring. She works with school district administrators to strengthen instructional programming and to supervise and evaluate these practices through customizable coaching and mentorship protocols. As a professional developer, she works directly with teachers to support diverse classrooms through hands-on, practical approaches that can be implemented immediately in their instructional settings. Her professional development sessions emphasize actionable strategies that honor students′ linguistic and cultural assets while addressing the real-world challenges educators face in today′s multilingual classrooms. She co-authored the best-selling book From Equity Insights to Action: Critical Strategies for Teaching Multilingual Learners (2022) and, most recently, Nine Dimensions of Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners (2026). She is also the author of several teaching guides, including Multilingual Learners: Strategies to Adapt Instruction in Content Areas (2nd Edition), Multilingual Learners: Strategic Tools & Teaching Approaches, Multilingual Learners: Language Development or Disability?, and Teaching English Learners: Strategies for Classroom Teachers. In addition, she has published textbook chapters in Teaching Science to English Language Learners: Preparing Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers, Teaching History and Social Studies to English Language Learners, Effective Teacher Collaboration for English Language Learners: Cross-Curricular Insights From K-12 Classrooms, and Approaches to Classroom Management for Diverse and Inclusive Schools. She has written articles in the Journal of Leadership and Instruction, New York State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: Impact Journal, and IDIOM. She serves as a grant writer and member of the Peer Review Committee for SCOPE′s Journal for Leadership and Instruction.  She has presented at various conferences, including TESOL International, NYS TESOL, Long Island ESOL, and The Teachers′ Institute.

Review :
"As someone who has been immersed in the depths of assessment equity for multilingual learners my entire professional career, on a personal level, I am elated to see equity become a mantra being heralded across educational contexts. The mission now becomes for every educator to fulfill its call. Honigsfeld, Dove, Cohan, and Goldman take on this challenge by concretizing the abstractness of equity through student portraits and actionable steps. Together the authors illustrate that in making equity student-centered, educators can be best positioned to leverage the resources of our multilingual learners." "This book engages teachers in embracing the diversity of multilingual learners and focusing relentlessly on equity. Where the pandemic has demonstrated many of the cultural and linguistic barriers that have plagued our nation for generations, this contribution (including its richly detailed sketch notes, student portraits, and sequence of equity moves), shows us how to remove these barriers in a practical and even inspirational way." "This team of authors has brilliantly captured the urgency of the moment as we transition out of the COVID-19 pandemic and collectively seek to advance equity and opportunity for multilingual leaners in our schools. From preservice teachers to veteran educators and leaders, along with an array of stakeholders committed to advancing equity for MLs, each reader will find inspiration, practical tools, and a variety of resources to challenge old ways of thinking and doing while providing actionable insight into the possibilities ahead. The easy-to-flow of the book, real-life examples, and reflection prompts will captivate readers and inspire action."

"From Equity Insights to Action is so much more than a resource textbook that should be in the hands of every educator, filled with dog-eared corners and post-it notes for easy reference. It is a call to action, a reminder of the impact we can make in the lives of others and a collection of heartfelt anecdotes that remind all educational professionals of why we begin this journey.  This read provides practical advice, reflection guides and the ability to transform our practice to provide immediate tools for implementation of strategies. Thank you for your voice and your passion."

"We can and must do better and this is the perfect time to do so. The authors provide the pathway forward to an equity based education for all students in a post pandemic world. The chapters are well scaffolded, engaging and reflective inviting educators to celebrate and embrace culturally responsive, student inspired classrooms." "From Equity Insights to Action: Critical Strategies for Teaching Multilingual Learners is a timely reframing from deficient mindset to an asset based viewpoint. Students come with a wealth of experiences, skills, and knowledge; it is our job as educators to connect with out students and see how we can build on their talents." "From Equity Insights to Action is a timely and valuable resource that reflects on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously imagining a better, more equitable educational landscape for multilingual learners. Each chapter offers a unique metaphor that helps the reader to conceptualize how to leverage insights gained from pandemic teaching and recalibrate what is not serving our marginalized populations. The authors describe opportunities to shift mindsets, change practices, and take action in addition to encouraging reflective questioning about where change is needed. The magnitude of the work is substantial and this resource offers solutions and hope for educators who are ready to make a difference." "This book is a timely and necessary addition to every educator′s bookshelf. I love how the chapters are organized with justifications, student portraits, multiple pathways for approaching equity critically, and resources/ tools. I appreciated all of the checklists and questions to ask myself. I am certain I will wear the ink off of the pages quickly!" "The call to address inequities in schools has never been louder nor more urgent, particularly for multilingual learners (MLs), whose voices have been muted for too long. To respond to this call requires a methodical, deliberate approach to classroom practice that is intimately shaped by the diverse assets our students bring to the table. The authors offer a clear path forward for educators who are ready to leave unjust practices of the past behind and move toward an equitable future for MLs." "As I read this text, I was captivated by the call to action. All learners need these practical suggestions so that educators can meet them where they are and make curriculum culturally relevant to ALL students. Curriculum and education environments should mirror, as well as highlight, diversity, and oftentimes multilingual learners and students of color do not see themselves represented. From Equity Insights to Action:  Critical Strategies for Teaching Multilingual Learners shines a light on this urgent need to focus on equity and embrace diversity." As an advocate for multilingual children, I found From Equity Insights to Action to be both profound and practical. This is a book that is relevant to the times we live in and is much needed. These authors push us to think critically about the issues at hand.   Not to mention the layout is lovely, and the graphics are captivating as well. "From Equity Insights to Action is an extremely useful and timely book about lessons learned from the pandemic and moving forward with a new vision of providing equitable practices for MLs. The authors deliver their promise as reflected in the title and in the introductory chapter by laying out pathways for approaching equity through actionable research-based practices and strategies that teachers can use to amplify, accelerate, and empower MLs. The personal accounts, reflections, sketch notes, authentic examples from classrooms allow the reader to experience an educational world of equity and justice where MLs have the potential to succeed because they are given everything they need to thrive." "From Equity Insights to Action is focused on impacting systematic change by addressing issues that our Multilingual Learners have faced and are currently facing now more than ever. This book not only presents research-based supports through an equity-lens, but readers will dive deep into critical reflection that will challenge all notions. This book provides practical and valuable approaches that guide open and honest conversations with educators. As a Director of English Learning, working with teams and systems, I found that The Equity in Action sections were valuable in providing educators with practical, real-life examples of how we can put equity practices into action. With beautiful illustrations, guiding resources, and real-life student encounters, readers are left with inspiration!"

"From Equity Insights to Action is an urgent call for educators to understand who multilingual learners are, what equity in the classroom looks like, how to perform equity work in schools, and, most importantly, why it all matters in this critical pandemic era. Andrea Honigsfeld, Maria Dove, Audrey Cohan, and Carrie McDermott Goldman convince readers of the importance of appreciating and building on the strengths and abilities that multilingual learners bring to the classroom. The authors go beyond teaching and learning strategies by also including sections on advocacy, reflections, and actions, along with chapters on assessment and teacher-student relationship-building. Beautifully written and creatively illustrated, this book should be read by all practitioners committed to equity in our increasingly diverse society, schools, and classrooms."

The beauty of the judicious book From Equity Insights to Action, Critical Strategies for Teaching Multilingual Learners is that it functions both as a robust resource and urgent clarion call to action.  The book aims for research informed and evidence-based teaching while envisioning and embracing educational equity for multilingual learners (MLs). From Equity Insights to Action paints in vivid colors the fight for a world of equity in classrooms, schools, and communities across America. Practical strategies are internalized through purposeful reflection; strategies for curriculum recalibration intertwine with the social-emotional dimensions of learning. Vivid student portraits, setting contexts and evocative reflective questions lead the readers on a profound path of self-examination and self-discovery.  This book transcends the distance between personal insights, individual growth, and action-oriented processes beyond classrooms