José A. Velázquez, M.Ed., Director of Academic Instruction and School Support at ESC 19

José A. Velázquez, M.Ed., has over 30 years of experience as a PK-12 bilingual/ESL classroom teacher, high school principal and consultant. As Director of Academic Instruction and School Support at ESC 19 in El Paso, Texas, he leads a team of BE/ESL and content experts that provide professional development and technical assistance to support school improvement and innovation in rural and urban contexts across the country. As an English Learner himself, José provides leadership development to improve academic performance for all students with a special focus on EL students at their campuses.

Dr. Jessica Costa, English Learner Instructional Specialist at the Virginia Department of Education

Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, Executive Vice President Government Affairs & Partnerships at NWEA

Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, a Fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, is the Executive Vice President of Government Affairs & Partnerships at NWEA. Aaliyah is a bilingual executive leader with expertise from early childhood through higher education. Her experience includes program evaluation and evidence-based programs; data collection and disaggregation; family and community engagement support strategies; and policy development and implementation at the local, state, and national level. Aaliyah has informed state policy agendas, assisted with developing cross systems approaches to develop policy solutions to support children and families and leading systems-level change. In her current role at NWEA, she leads a team working on driving a state and federal education agenda.

Dr. John Caggiano, Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at Hampton City Schools

Dr. John Caggiano has served as the deputy superintendent for curriculum, instruction, and assessment in Hampton City Schools for the last five years. He has more than 25 years of educational experience and has previously served in the following roles: elementary teacher, middle school assistant principal, elementary principal, middle school principal, and executive director of school leadership. Dr. Caggiano, who has presented across Virginia on a variety of educational topics during his tenure, is a co-author of the book Formative Assessment Leadership: Identify, Plan, Apply, Assess, Refine (2014). Additionally, Dr. Caggiano is a co-author of the book Look, Listen, Learn, LEAD: A District-Wide Systems Approach to Teaching & Learning in PreK-12 that is being published in September 2020. Dr. Caggiano has also served as an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University for the last 13 years, and is the founder of the teacher observation website eObservations.com. The website contains a number of formative observation tools that administrators can use to help teachers reflect on their practice and reveal areas for their professional growth.