Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Missouri Saint Louis
Debra Cole is a longtime language teacher, experienced program director, instructional specialist, and school administrator. In her various roles, she has developed and adapted curriculum for core content and ESOL classrooms, with PreK-12 multilingual learners (MLs) in mind. She began teaching German as a foreign language in 1985, becoming convinced that acquiring another language should be a fundamental goal of public education for all students. When students speaking other languages came to town, she was tapped to work with grade 7-12 new arrivals to facilitate their acquisition of English and to ensure they had equitable opportunities and access to challenging, engaging curriculum across the content areas.
She established a dual immersion program, developed meaningful, job-embedded professional development opportunities for both classroom and ESOL teachers of multilinguals, and established the St. Louis Coteaching for ELs Regional Initiative.
Research interests include the impact of teacher collaboration, particularly on multilingual and at-risk learners. Dr. Cole uses quantitative research methods to evaluate program effectiveness for multilingual learners, taking into account grade levels and home languages.
Friday, February 16, 2024
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM MST