Our story.

Practical & impactful professional development for teachers, coaches and leaders.

Awards & Recognitions

  • Confianza envisions an educational landscape where all leaders and educators are prepared to provide access and opportunity for culturally and linguistically diverse learners across the entire system. We increase student outcomes in schools and organizations by improving cultural understanding, communication, and collaboration.

    Our work embodies the foundations of teaching multilingual students and the language and literacy strategies that lead to student success. We partner with teachers, schools, and districts across the globe to understand their context and needs, establish ambitious yet attainable goals, and develop a customized professional development plan to increase productivity, improve practices and mindsets, and address systemic issues of equity.

  • We break down the “silos” that multilingual learners experience to help students meet the highest standards. We aim for sustainable impact by building capacity across grades and disciplines and guiding teachers to incorporate language and literacy strategies that support academic language development and content learning.

  • Confianza is a mission-driven, woman-owned small business. As a social enterprise, we are committed to supporting and elevating the voices of those who are not historically heard. We donate to non-profit organizations with like-minded missions and a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice.

    Culture and identity are central to learning, especially for multilingual students. As educators, we must acknowledge, respond to, and celebrate the backgrounds of our students and intentionally create learning environments that are equitable and engaging. This includes incorporating students’ first language (L1 home language/native language/mother tongue) and valuing multilingualism and translanguaging.

  • + Multilingualism as an Asset

    + Equity-Driven Leadership

    + High Expectations for All Students

    + Differentiated and Student-Centered Instruction

    + Learning within the Context of Culture

    + Teachers as Change Agents

“Confianza has a wealth of knowledge, tools, and strategies to help your school move forward in meeting the needs of all students. Our language specialists and content area teachers feel more equipped.”

— RITA MCDERMOTT, EAL COORDINATOR

Teachers and Leaders

Districts and Schools

March 15

Venue
New York, NY

SARAH B. OTTOW

FOUNDER & DIRECTOR OF CONFIANZA

Sarah B. Ottow is a change agent and professional development specialist focused on improving cultural understanding, communication, and collaboration. She enjoys supporting public and private schools, non-profit organizations, and corporations across the US and internationally, teaching learners from pre-K to adults. Sarah has a master’s in curriculum and instruction with a focus on social justice in urban education and certifications in general education, English as a Second Language, bilingual education (Spanish), reading, and coaching/mentoring. Sarah founded Confianza in 2015.

Sarah is also the author of The Language Lens for Content Classrooms: A Guide for K-12 Educators of English and Academic Language Learners published by Learning Sciences International.