FloridA ESOL TEACHER Endorsement

Client: Panhandle Area Educational Consortium (PAEC)

Role: Lead Instructional Designer, Curriculum Developer, and Project Manager

Project Duration: February–August 2026

Learning Platform: Schoology LMS

Learning Format: Self-paced online professional development

Project Scope: Five 60-hour courses, totaling 300 hours of professional learning

Instructional Design Frameworks: ADDIE, backward design, standards-based curriculum alignment, adult learning principles, and iterative evaluation

The Challenge: From Standards Compliance to Meaningful Professional Learning

Florida's revised Teacher Standards for ESOL Endorsement (2025) required PAEC to update its existing endorsement matrices and professional development courses across five instructional strands.

The challenge extended beyond documenting compliance with revised standards. PAEC needed a consistent, defensible framework connecting performance indicators to measurable teacher competencies, learning experiences, and evidence of mastery.

The existing self-paced courses also required revisions to their learning objectives, instructional materials, assignments, and assessment criteria to ensure alignment with the updated standards.

The central instructional design question was:

What should educators know, understand, and be able to do to demonstrate each performance indicator, and what learning experiences will help them develop and demonstrate those competencies?

The project required balancing standards compliance, instructional quality, meaningful classroom application, and consistency across participating districts.

Target Audience

The courses were designed for Florida educators pursuing ESOL Endorsement through PAEC's professional development program.

Participants bring varied teaching experiences, disciplinary backgrounds, instructional contexts, and levels of familiarity with English language learner education.

The learning experiences needed to support educators in:

• Understanding the linguistic, cultural, instructional, and assessment needs of English language learners.

• Connecting research and theory to practical instructional decisions.

• Applying ESOL competencies to their own teaching contexts.

• Demonstrating professional learning through authentic, standards-aligned tasks.

• Engaging in flexible, self-paced professional learning while maintaining clear expectations for performance.

Desired Behaviors and Measurable Outcomes

The overarching goal was to move educators beyond awareness of ESOL standards toward the practical application of research-based instructional strategies.

Upon successful completion of the relevant courses, participants should be able to:

These outcomes informed the alignment of learning objectives, activities, assignments, and assessment criteria.

The Solution: An Integrated Curriculum and Course Redesign

I led two interconnected projects designed to establish a consistent relationship between state standards, educator competencies, and applied professional learning.

Project 1: ESOL Standards and Endorsement Revision

I revised PAEC's ESOL Endorsement matrices to align with Florida's updated Teacher Standards for ESOL Endorsement.

This process included analyzing the revised standards and performance indicators, clarifying the competencies educators needed to demonstrate, and establishing connections between those competencies and appropriate evidence of mastery.

The resulting matrices provided the foundation for course redesign, documentation, and standards-alignment review.

Project 2: Instructional Design and Course Development

Building on the revised matrices, I redesigned and aligned five self-paced professional development courses in Schoology:

1. ESOL Applied Linguistics: Connecting language systems, language acquisition, and linguistic analysis to instructional practice.

2. ESOL Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages: Applying research-based methods, differentiated instruction, and effective teaching strategies.

3. Testing and Evaluation for English Language Learners: Using assessment principles, accommodations, and learner performance data to inform instructional decisions.

4. Communication and Understanding for English Language Learners: Developing culturally and linguistically responsive practices that recognize learner, family, and community strengths.

5. ESOL Curriculum and Materials Development: Designing, evaluating, and adapting curriculum and instructional materials to meet diverse learner needs.

Each course represents approximately 60 hours of professional learning and provides opportunities to connect conceptual understanding with practical instructional application.

Instructional Design Process

I used ADDIE as an organizing framework, integrating backward design and iterative review throughout development.

Analyze: Interpreting Standards and Identifying Competencies

I analyzed the revised Florida ESOL Endorsement Standards, existing course structures, learning objectives, and assessment requirements.

A central part of this work was identifying what each performance indicator meant in terms of observable teacher knowledge, skills, and instructional practice.

Design: Aligning Outcomes, Experiences, and Assessments

Using backward design, I translated performance indicators into measurable learning objectives and identified appropriate evidence of mastery.

I then aligned learning experiences and assessments with the intended competencies, emphasizing authentic tasks that educators could apply to their instructional settings.

Develop: Creating Applied, Self-Paced Learning Experiences

I developed and revised Schoology course materials, including:

• Organized learning modules and instructional resources.

• Clearly articulated learning objectives and expectations.

• Activities connecting theory, research, and classroom practice.

• Authentic instructional assignments and reflection tasks.

• Assessment criteria aligned with target competencies.

The design emphasized opportunities for educators to analyze, apply, create, and reflect rather than simply consume instructional content.

Implement: Preparing Courses for Schoology Delivery

I organized and refined course materials for implementation within PAEC's Schoology LMS.

This included coordinating the development and revision sequence, preparing Schoology-ready materials, and ensuring consistency across courses while maintaining each strand's distinct instructional focus.

Evaluate: Reviewing Alignment and Refining the Learning Experience

Evaluation was integrated throughout the project rather than reserved for the end.

I coordinated review cycles with PAEC, incorporated feedback, maintained version control, and conducted quality assurance to strengthen standards alignment, instructional clarity, assessment consistency, and course readiness.

Making Standards Actionable

Rather than treating performance indicators as isolated compliance statements, I used them to define observable teacher competencies.

This created a transparent progression:

Standards → Performance Indicators → Teacher Competencies → Learning Experiences → Evidence of Mastery

Prioritizing Authentic Classroom Application

The courses emphasized practical assignments that required educators to apply their learning to realistic instructional situations.

Examples included lesson design, assessment analysis, learner profiles, curriculum evaluation, and instructional material adaptation.

Supporting Independent Adult Learners

Because the courses were self-paced, I emphasized clear module organization, explicit learning objectives, practical resources, and well-defined assessment expectations.

These elements were intended to support learner autonomy while maintaining the rigor of professional endorsement requirements.

Building Consistency Across Five Courses

A shared design and alignment approach helped establish consistent expectations for course organization, instructional tasks, assessment criteria, and quality assurance, while allowing flexibility for the distinct content and competencies of each ESOL strand.

Deliverables and Project Outcomes

The project produced two categories of deliverables.

Standards and curriculum alignment

• Revised ESOL Endorsement matrices across five strands.

• Standards and performance-indicator alignment documentation.

• Defined connections among competencies, instructional tasks, and assessment evidence.

Instructional design and course development

• Five revised, standards-aligned professional development courses.

• Approximately 300 hours of self-paced learning content.

• Revised course and module objectives.

• Applied assignments, portfolio tasks, and assessment criteria.

• Schoology-ready instructional materials.

• Coordinated review, revision, and quality assurance documentation.

Together, these deliverables established a consistent framework for connecting Florida's ESOL Endorsement requirements with professional learning and classroom application.

Evaluation consideration: The documented project outcomes concern curriculum alignment, course development, and implementation readiness. Participant completion, satisfaction, and changes in classroom practice would require separate evaluation data.

Reflection: Designing for Competence, Not Just Compliance

This project reinforced the importance of treating educational standards as the starting point for meaningful learning design, rather than as a checklist of required content.

The most important design challenge was translating broad performance indicators into specific, observable competencies and then developing learning experiences that would allow educators to demonstrate those competencies.

By integrating standards alignment, backward design, authentic assessment, and iterative evaluation, I sought to create a coherent connection between what educators were expected to learn, what they were asked to do, and how their learning would be assessed.

The project demonstrates my ability to lead complex, multi-course professional learning initiatives, manage curriculum and instructional design processes, and translate educational requirements into practical, learner-centered experiences.