CALSA’s Summer Institute is where innovators, educators, and leaders come together to shape the future of public education. Grounded in the theme Somos el Puente entre Generaciones, this year’s conference elevates the voices, practices, and partnerships that strengthen schools and communities across California.
This session introduces the BEACONS Comprehensive Biliteracy and English Literacy Professional Learning Model, a research-based framework designed to strengthen literacy outcomes for multilingual learners through coherence, equity, and instructional precision. Grounded in the California ELA/ELD Framework, the English Learner Roadmap, and the California Dyslexia Guidelines, BEACONS supports educators in translating research into high-impact classroom practice. Participants will explore the BEACONS 6E instructional model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate, Extend) and how it integrates foundational skills, meaning-making, language development, effective expression, and content knowledge within a unified literacy system. The session emphasizes how explicit and systematic foundational skills instruction can be meaning-centered and embedded within culturally and linguistically responsive learning experiences. Through classroom examples and cross-linguistic applications, participants will examine how to design instruction that leverages students’ full linguistic repertoires and supports biliteracy development across languages. The session also highlights the use of multiple data sources—such as decoding, writing, comprehension, and language development—to inform responsive, MTSS-aligned instruction. Aligned to California’s Quality Professional Learning Standards, this session equips educators with practical tools and a clear vision for advancing biliteracy as a pathway to equity and opportunity.
