Veronica Gallardo

Director, ELL and International Studies
Seattle Public Schools District

In 2014-15, Veronica Gallardo organized and facilitated the successful completion of an online PD that incorporated the new ELP standards with the Stanford Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Constructive Conversations. As of 2016 over 300 Seattle Public School teachers have completed the Pre-MOOC and Hybrid MOOC. Participants included ELP teachers, general education teachers, and instructional coaches working as professional learning communities. There was 90%+ completion rate, which is phenomenal for an online course. Participants used tools developed by Stanford’s Graduate School of Education to observe student performance, assess students’ language proficiency, and to collaborate to implement appropriate instruction. Veronica also brought the district perspective to a national effort to arrive at a Common EL Definition, work facilitated by CCSSO and funded by the Carnegie Corporation.