Megan Alubicki Flick

Change Agent, Connector, Consultant, Educator/Teacher, Foodie, Global soul, Idea generator, Parent, Policy maker, World traveler

Dr. Megan Alubicki Flick has worked for the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) since 2010, and she proudly serves as the state’s Multilingual Learner Consultant and Title III State Director. She works to advance outcomes for multilingual learners and develop assets-based approaches to serving them, which is her professional passion. In her work at the CSDE, she serves as the program manager of the federal Title III grant and State Bilingual grant. She oversees Connecticut’s Seal of Biliteracy initiative and supports a range of other projects and initiatives related to the instruction of multilingual learners and professional learning for teachers. She was honored to serve as the 2020-2021 President of the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators (NAELPA), and is now back in the presidential succession as the current Vice President. Prior to joining the CSDE, she worked as an ESL teacher for Hartford Public Schools, conducted education and language policy research in Belgium and Sweden as a U.S. Fulbright Fellow to the European Union, and served as an EFL Teacher in Mikkeli, Finland through a fellowship with the American-Scandinavian Foundation. She carried out her doctoral studies at the University of Massachusetts. Her research focused on examining state policy levers to enhance pre-service training for generalist educators in order to effectively support multilingual learners in diverse demographic contexts. In her personal life, Megan enjoys running, art, traveling, hiking, reading, cooking, and spending time with her family, and her greatest sources of pride are her two sons.

Education, multilingualism, social justice, equity in education, assets-based approaches to serving multilingual students and connecting with their families. Also passionate about my children, travel, running, art, Finland, global access, cooking, books.

Multilingual learners are a growing part of the student population in the United States. Often, their primary/home language is seen as a problem to be solved when actually languages are assets to be cultivated and celebrated.

Assets-based instruction, Education policy, Multilingualism, Public education

I am honored to be at TED 2022 as an invited guest on behalf of TED-Ed. As a person who is deeply committed to promoting the success of multilingual learners, it is incredibly exciting that these students and this area of public education are represented among the TED-Ed participants, and I am humbled to be here in that capacity. Because multilingual learners enter schools in the United States with limited proficiency in English, these students and their families have long been systemically, linguistically and academically marginalized. There is great and growing momentum in our field to acknowledge the rich cultural and linguistic assets that these students possess. It is my life's work to help create a through line between assets-oriented educational policy and local teacher practice. This is necessary because these brilliant and capable students and their families are unique individuals with rich gifts. Additionally, as the demographics of the United States shift and our world becomes more globally connected, there is a compelling need to encourage and cultivate multilingualism as we look toward the future.

Event planning, culinary experimenting, singing