Shawn Slakk is vice president of operations and senior consultant, Margarita Calderon & Associates, where he and his colleagues train teachers and administrators how to consolidate language, literacy, and content for English learners and all other students. Shawn is coauthor and developer of professional development sessions focusing on whole-school implementation, administrative support, and coaching. He serves as the lead ExC-ELL consultant for the state of Virginia. Recent projects include redesigning ExC-ELL for adult learners, implemented at the Ana G. Mendez University System campuses in Washington, D.C., Florida, and Dallas, Texas. As a former certified WIDA trainer and coach for the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, Shawn provided professional development on instructional strategies, lesson delivery, and assessment to support ELs. He earned a bachelor's degree in K-12 English Education and K-12 Spanish Education from Whitworth College and master's degrees in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) from Eastern Washington University and in school administration from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on reading and writing instruction for additional language learners at the University of Virginia.
