The Coalition Board of Directors was created at the 2013 ACTFL conference, when it became clear that community-based heritage language schools needed to connect with each other and become more visible in the national language landscape. The team collaborates with the National Heritage Resource Center (NHLRC) at UCLA, American University, and others.

Joy Kreeft Peyton - Coalition Leadership and Conference Planning

Joy Kreeft Peyton, PhD, is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). She was a founding member of the Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages, formerly hosted at CAL. She is co-editor of Heritage Languages in America: Preserving a National Resource (with Donald Ranard and Scott McGinnis) and Handbook of Heritage, Community, and Native American Languages in the United States: Research, Educational Practice, and Policy (with Terrence Wiley, Donna Christian, Sarah Moore, and Na Liu). She has over 35 years of experience in the field of languages, linguistics, and culture in education. She has worked with teachers and teacher trainers in K-12 and adult education programs across the United States and in other countries to improve their instructional practice. Her work includes providing workshops for teachers on developing the academic language and literacy of students learning English as a second language; developing professional development opportunities for teachers working with children and adults learning English; and working in other countries, including the Philippines and Thailand on preparing refugees for life and education in the United States, and in Ethiopia, Nepal, and The Gambia on developing curriculum and materials for teaching students in their mother tongue and the national language. She serves on a number of project and editorial advisory boards focused on improving education and outcomes for students learning a second language.

Masako Douglas - Heritage Language Schools Consultation

Masako Douglas, Ph.D., is Professor of Japanese at California State University, Long Beach. Her research interest is on Japanese heritage language (JHL) development and education. She has been working on constructing and applying a theoretical framework to JHL curriculum design (grades K-8 and college courses) and developed curricula and instructional videos for community-based JHL schools and JHL college courses. She has publications on JHL young learners' language background, JHL acquisition, JHL literacy, and JHL pedagogy. She conducted research with her colleagues on young JHL learners' language development in an immersion program and at a community-based JHL school. She is one of the founders and currently the Chair of the JHL SIG of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese. She is also one of the founders of an online refereed journal, JHL Journal: Working Papers of Japanese Heritage Language Education, and an editorial board member of the Heritage Language Journal. She is also a board member of the Mother Tongue, Heritage Language, and Bilingual Education (MHB) Research Association in Japan. She is a recipient of American Association of Teachers of Japanese 2012 Teacher Award.

Ana Lucia Lico – Conference Planning and Coalition Outreach

Ana Lúcia Lico was born in Brazil. She holds an MBA in Strategic Management and has an Specialization in Corporate Communications, both done in Brazil. Resident in the US since 2003, Ana Lucia is married to an American, and has a 13-year-old son and a 10-year-old son. She participated in the founding of the Brazilian Mothers Group of the Washington DC area in 2004, in the launch of the educational program for children in 2005, and in the founding of ABRACE (Brazilian Association of Culture and Education) in 2009. In the last 12 years, she has been studying and learning a lot about the field of Heritage Language and Culture by carrying out community leadership projects and workshops for teachers in partnership with Georgetown University and publishing articles and book chapters on the subject. Ana Lúcia is a co-founder and Executive Director of ABRACE, a member of the Citizens' Council of the Brazilian Consulate in Washington, DC, and a member of the Council of Representatives of Brazilians Abroad (CRBE), where she is the Coordinator of Education. In 2016, she received an award from the Brazilian Government in recognition of individuals residing abroad whose performance has made a notable contribution to Brazilian cultural or educational diplomacy.

Tommy Lu – Community-Based Schools Survey

Tommy Lu, EdD, has been actively gathering and developing programs for Chinese community-based schools for over 20 years. He has served in several positions, such as the principal, vice principal, curriculum director, and teacher of the Chinese School of Delaware; co-chair of the ACTFL Heritage Language SIG; president of ACS (Association of Chinese Schools) and NCACLS (National Council of Association of Chinese Language Schools); Chinese language representative for the Coalition of Community-Based Language Schools; and senior advisor to CELIN (Chinese Early Language and Immersion Network) @ Asia Society. He is interested in building a platform for all community-based schools using the community of practice (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder) approach so that every community member can share and collaborate what they have learned and improve teaching and learning.

Renate Ludanyi – Heritage Language Schools Consultation

tludanyi@snet.net

Renate Ludanyi, PhD, is co-founder and president of the national umbrella organization for German heritage language schools in the United States and the organizer of its annual teacher development conference at the German Consulate General in New York. She is also the co-founder and president/principal of the German School of Connecticut, with two teaching sites. With the assistance of the Central Agency for German Schools Abroad, Germany, she introduced the German Sprachdiplom Examination (an official language prerequisite for studying at a German university) into the U.S., for which she received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Many German heritage language schools in the U.S. now offer this examination and have their students study at German-speaking universities. Through her leadership, her school has received the national American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) designation, Center of Excellence, and also became a member of the world-wide network of “Schools - Partners for the Future” initiated by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. She has published and lectured widely nationally and internationally on topics of community-based heritage language schools and on language maintenance and the history of German immigration into the United States. She is a professor of German and the director of the German Studies Center of Western Connecticut State University. She has received numerous awards for her work.

Marta McCabe – Coalition Outreach

mccabe.marta@gmail.com

Marta McCabe, PhD, is Founder and Director of the Czech and Slovak School of North Carolina. She also serves as a Board Member of the Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools. She works as a Global Learning Consultant at Duke University’s Academic Resource Center. Marta also served in numerous other roles including as a research scientist, interpreter, language consultant, and instructor. Marta’s professional interests include international education, migration, linguistic diversity, and heritage language maintenance. Her research is focusing specifically on the linguistic, social, and cultural adaptation of second-generation immigrants from Eastern Europe.

National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC), UCLA

American University