TAUNTON — Superintendent John Cabral and the Taunton Public Schools are pleased to announce the successful visit from an inclusive learning organization partner for the district.
Confianza founder, CEO and Director of Professional Learning Sarah Ottow visited Elizabeth Pole Elementary School on June 8 and met with Superintendent Cabral and Director of Multilingual Learner Programs for Taunton Public Schools, Dalila Mendoza.
Confianza, which means “Mutual Trust and Respect,” is a professional learning organization that is dedicated to equity, language and literacy within public schools. The organization was founded to create equal learning opportunities for children across the country.
The visit was a reflective end-of-year conversation about the progress the organization and Taunton Public Schools have made over the past few years. This included speaking with faculty and coaches about the growth happening in classrooms and in teacher collaboration spaces.
“We at Taunton Public Schools believe that every child’s education is important,” Superintendent Cabral said. “Through this partnership we are able to provide the best schooling to our students and make education inclusive for everyone.”
Taunton Public Schools and Confianza have been partners since the 2017-18 school year. The overall objective of this partnership is to ensure equal opportunities for students at at all levels by ensuring all students needs are met. This includes building and sustaining inclusive classroom practices through both curriculum and mindsets. This year’s goal focused on the collaborative and co-teaching structures at the elementary level.
“We want every student to feel that their learning is important. To feel as though their needs are being met,” Director Mendoza said. “This partnership allows students to learn in a more inclusive, accepting and direct way. Our educators go above and beyond for students and Confianza allows us to be able to meet each student’s needs both individually and in a classroom setting.”
The initiative was put in place to make learning more inclusive for all students, taking all aspects of education including how students learn, not just what they learn, into consideration. Confianza provides research-based tools and coaching methods to improve diversity, equity and inclusion across entire schools to help educators meet the needs of all students.
“I am extremely pleased with our partnership with Confianza, we are lucky to have a partner that is just as committed to students needs as we are,” said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Christopher Barratta. “We are looking forward to this continued partnership and we are excited for the future of our students and educators.”
As a result of the visit, Taunton Schools will continue to deepen the inclusive culture that has been building throughout the year. Growth for inclusion is measured through improvements both in teacher relationships and in student data.
“Taunton Public Schools has been a valued partner of Confianza since 2017. As Director Mendoza’s coach, I’ve been privileged to support her vision of high standards and equal opportunity for students,” said Ottow. “Dalila has built critical support for multilingual learners across the district, including Student Support procedures, rigorous curriculum that mirrors students’ lives, and key expectations for her teaching staff in providing high quality instruction. We look forward to continuing our partnership as we embed inclusive practices in alignment with Confianza’s vision of providing equity, language and literacy for all learners.”
About Confianza:
Confianza’s mission is to support cultural understanding, communication and collaboration for schools and other organizations by providing research-based tools and coaching to improve diversity, equity and inclusion across an entire school or organization. The organization starts with a deep dive of exploring mindsets and practices for equity, language and literacy called “The Language Lens”. See Ottow’s book for more information: https://ellstudents.com/language-lens.
For more information about Confianza and there educative work click here.
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