Our Beliefs

Imagine a student, a Multilingual Learner (MLL), who stopped attending school in the 4th grade and has worked on a farm his entire life helping his family make ends meet. He decides he now wants to cross the border to reunite with his mother, who he has not seen in over a decade. He is now a high school aged student and has never learned how to properly read or write in his native language. What do you do? Do you allow this student’s talents to go to waste? Or do you prepare a pathway for him that allows him to find success in a way that makes sense for him? Many students in the United States attend schools that do not properly nurture their talents and genius. This genius comes in many forms, but schools are largely focused only on a student’s academic journey. This has led to the systemic and structural inequity of schooling designs where we see success through a tunnel vision and where a set mindset dominates and perpetuates this belief of what school should be. This, inevitably, has allowed us to fail to see the true potential of diverse students in the USA.

Soy la Esperanza Consulting is a business dedicated to the coaching and development of school teams in diverse schools across the United States of America with a specialization in the Latinx and MLL community. Our team works with schools and district leaders to strategically plan and deliver on the promise that ALL students in their school/district will be successful. We do not aim to fix schools, but rather work with school community leaders given their particular context to help develop tools and resources that will enhance the student learning experience.

Our organization builds upon our founder's successful history and strong track record of success with high levels of student achievement for MLLs, including his own journey growing up and as an undocumented MLL in New York City. It is for this fundamental reason that we at SLE believe that all students, from all backgrounds, are able to achieve success and that this success can be measured and defined in a variety of ways. As an organization, we have a set of beliefs that define our core values:

• We believe that if given the proper support, all school stakeholders are able to create inclusive learning spaces that enhance the experiences of all learners.

• We believe that all schools must approach learning through a culturally responsive lens in order to address the needs of their diverse school communities.

• We believe that all adults that work with children must possess a learning disposition grounded in an understanding of their personal biases and their ability to address those in order to successfully lead diverse school communities.