Diane Staehr Fenner, Ph.D. Email & Phone Number

Washington D.C. Metro Area

At SupportEd, we know that English Learners (ELs) bring many strengths to their schools and communities. SupportEd provides educators and other stakeholders in ELs’ education the skills and resources they need to champion ELs’ success within and beyond their classrooms. SupportEd provides face to face and online professional development as well as technical assistance, research expertise, and curriculum and assessment support to school districts, organizations, states, and the U.S. Department of Education. SupportEd's clients include the American Federation of Teachers, the Center for Applied Linguistics, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the New York City Department of Education, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the National Education Association, the New York State Education Department, the Peace Corps, the Florida Department of Education, TESOL International Association, and WIDA.

Alexandria, Va

Serve as the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)/Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) liaison with institutions of higher education and program reviewers for national recognition of ESL teacher preparation programs by NCATE. Recruit and train volunteer TESOL/CAEP program reviewers, train campus representatives on compiling TESOL/CAEP program reports, review and audit TESOL program reports by teams of program reviewers, provide ongoing professional development through webinars. Facilitated the 2009 revision of the TESOL/CAEP Standards for P-12 Teacher Education Programs. Authored book on the implementation of the TESOL/CAEP Professional Standards.

Contributing author on The Administrator’s Guide to Federal Programs for English Learners (Thompson Publishing, 2010). Conducted an analysis of all state English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards across the US as part of American Institutes for Research’s Evaluation of State and Local Implementation of Title III Standards study. Research Partner to Indiana for Evaluating the Validity of English Language Proficiency Assessments (EVEA) project; responsible for supporting state efforts to develop interpretive argument, identify research priorities, and develop study protocols and instruments for validity research. Supported the work of the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) by providing states with technical assistance information regarding English language learners (ELLs), and collecting and disseminating effective practices for teaching ELLs via webinars. Served as Project Manager for Puerto Rico General Supervision Enhancement Grant (GSEG) validity studies that provided the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) with information regarding the quality and utility of alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. Deputy Project Director for technical assistance work to the PRDE surrounding Title III implementation, including lead evaluator for alignment review of Spanish language proficiency (SLP) standards and alignment between SLP standards and assessment. Coordinated and conducted alignment study of four content areas and assessments in PRDE across multiple grade levels.

Supported the Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Partnership project by developing English Language Proficiency levels and descriptors for ELL Accommodations Working Paper and Guidebook project to better define effective accommodations for ELLs on state content area assessments. Analyzed quantitative and qualitative data, contributed to data analyses and reports. Worked with World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium and Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to facilitate revision of LEP Framework for ELP Standards and Assessment.

Managed groups of pre-service ESOL teachers at GMU who were a part of the US Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) TESOL grant program. Reviewed GMU applications, mentored teacher candidates through the ESL licensure process, assessed professional development portfolios to determine the degree to which TESOL/NCATE standards were met, liaised with FCPS, Prince William County (VA), and Loudoun County (VA) Public Schools to assist qualified teacher candidates with field experiences, student teaching, and eventual employment as ESL teachers.

Served as a liaison between the Virginia Department of Education and FCPS to disseminate information to administrators, general education, and ESOL teachers in FCPS regarding state content area and English Language Proficiency assessment of ELLs. Used knowledge of ESOL methods, programs, and assessments to plan and provide ongoing professional development to teachers and administrators regarding the assessment of ELLs. Interpreted assessment data of ELLs to improve their instructional practices. Reviewed Virginia Standards of Learning assessments for cultural bias for ELLs.

Assessed ELLs in Spanish, English, and German to determine students’ proficiency in their home language and English as one step in the early intervention process for special education, analyzed assessment results, provided dual language assessment information to schools through descriptive and prescriptive written reports, served on school-based local screening committees, provided professional development to teachers.

Taught ESOL at Marshall High School

Ph.D., Multilingual/Multicultural Education, Minor In Literacy

Mat, English As A Second Language

Ma, German Language And Literature

Ba, German And Physics