Samuel Aguirre is the Director of WIDA Español for WIDA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sam manages the research, development, and delivery of WIDA resources focused on Spanish language instruction. His work oversees major areas, including those of a framework for Spanish language arts, standards for Spanish language development, professional learning opportunities, and Spanish language assessments. Sam is a former emergent bilingual, teacher of bi/multilingual learners, and served as director of multilingual student services for the Illinois State Board of Education. He continues to advocate for culturally and linguistically diverse communities in his daily work. 

Michelle Niska is an English Learner Education Specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education. She works to implement the state’s Learning English for Academic Proficiency and Success (LEAPS) Act, leads work for Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE), and works with the Title III program in Minnesota. Michelle has experience as a former teacher and program coordinator for multilingual learner and federal programs with various public-school districts in the state of Minnesota for more than twenty years. She is an Ed.M. candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a proud mom to a son and daughter and advocates for multilingual students, which is why she is a proud member of NAELPA.