Sustained professional learning and community for ML educators

Dana began her career as an ESL teacher in a K-8 school, where she experienced firsthand both the rewards and the challenges of supporting multilingual learners. Over time she served as a mentor teacher, instructional coach, and department leader overseeing more than 35 educators.

Her work is also shaped by an early experience living in Santiago, Chile, where she first experienced what it means to learn and navigate the world in a language that isn’t your own.

Throughout her career, Dana saw how multilingual learner work often became fragmented across roles, schools, and initiatives. The need for greater clarity and alignment across systems became the foundation for UpRiver Education.

Through UpRiver, she now supports educators and district leaders across the country with training, guidance, and instructional frameworks that are aligned to standards, grounded in classroom reality, and designed to strengthen outcomes for multilingual learners.

The platform is designed for school districts supporting multilingual learners, including classroom teachers, EL specialists, instructional coaches, and district leaders. It works best for districts that want consistent, year-round professional learning rather than one-time workshops.

Traditional PD is often time-bound and isolated. UpRiver’s platform provides ongoing access to courses, live expert support, and a community of practice so educators can learn, apply strategies, and get feedback throughout the school year.

A district subscription provides access for every educator in the district to all courses, certifications, live webinars, resources, and discussion spaces for the full school year. There are no limits on course enrollments or usage.

The platform is designed to fit into real schedules. Educators can engage with short, flexible modules on demand and attend live sessions as needed. There is no required pacing unless the district chooses to set one.

Both. Many districts use the platform as a core component of their multilingual learner PD strategy, while others use it to supplement in-house initiatives or coaching models. UpRiver can also align content to district goals and initiatives if needed.