Loan Mascorro is dedicated to enhancing educational experiences and outcomes for students, educators, and families, drawing on nearly three decades of experience in public education. She has served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, and professional development specialist. Currently a National Partner Consultant with The Core Collaborative, Loan has also been a senior-level associate with The Leadership and Learning Center and an author consultant with Corwin Press. Through her partnerships with schools and districts, she champions transformative, student-centered approaches to create learning opportunities that enhance agency and self-efficacy for all. As an immigrant and multilingual learner, Loan brings a unique perspective and lived experience that fosters empathy and understanding for diverse student populations.

Loan has contributed to publications including Standards and Assessment: The Core of Quality Instruction (Lead and Learn Press), The Empowered Learner Toolkit (Schoolwide & Mimi Todd Press), Amplify Learner Voice Through Culturally Responsive Assessment (Mimi & Todd Press) and her family’s book, Sea of Hope: A Family’s Tale of Escape to America.

Keynote:
Rising Above the Waves: Embracing Learning Dispositions for Multilingual Empowerment - Loan Mascorro, an author and educator, will share her profound journey as a 6-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, revealing how learning dispositions transformed her educational experience in a new country. Through her personal story, she will introduce the E.M.B.R.A.C.E framework, a strength-based approach that creates inclusive learning environments celebrating students' unique cultural strengths. The time together will explore critical habits of mind such as curiosity, resilience, and self-discovery, demonstrating how these dispositions help learners navigate complex academic and social challenges. Participants will discover strategies for shifting from deficit-based to strength-based perspectives, understanding how learning is fundamentally an evolving journey of continuous growth. By emphasizing progress over perfection, Mascorro will inspire educators to recognize and nurture the inherent capabilities of multilingual learners. Her transformative message underscores that every student's learning identity is a dynamic, powerful narrative of adaptation and empowerment.

Breakout:
From Cultural Roots to Cultural Identity - Join us to discover how fostering a strong connection between dispositional learning and cultural identity can empower students to become confident, resilient, empathetic, and compassionate learners. In this dynamic presentation, educators will explore effective approaches for nurturing healthy learner identities in students by deeply integrating their cultural identity into the learning process. Emphasizing the importance of both the habits of mind and the habits of the heart, this session will provide actionable insights into creating a classroom environment that respects and leverages students’ lived experiences as a vital source of knowledge to foster a holistic approach to learning.

• Identify and understand the key dispositions that contribute to healthy learner identities.
• Recognize the role of cultural identity in shaping student dispositions and learning experiences.
• Create classroom environments that celebrate cultural identity to promote positive learner identities.
• Gain strategies to connect with families