The level of understanding of dual language best practices and how to build a school's instruction and culture around those best practices that the Canizales Group brought was invaluable. The ability to build strong relationships with school leaders and staff despite not being site-based was also critical. I know that the school leader greatly valued the dual language content knowledge and asset-based approach to the project.

The Canizales Group is super collaborative, thoughtful, and rigorous. They are knowledgeable and passionate about multilingualism and weave that into their design which worked really perfectly for our partners. Canizales Group really values adult learning which is something that rarely happens (well) in funder convening, they value connection and are champions for the community (especially those working on behalf of Multilingual Learners!). I appreciated their active listening and engagement. They always gave me time to process and reflect so that I could do my best thinking as well. They were a ton of fun to work with, always bringing an uplifting attitude, and were super engaging and caring to our partners.

Senior Program Officer

“The Canizales Group offers a unique opportunity to work with highly qualified professionals with expertise in dual language, ESL, and bilingual programs, policies, and instructional practices to improve the services delivered to culturally and linguistically diverse students in our school. The Canizales group is professional, proactive, and offered good recommendations to improve the quality and usability of the project. What I most appreciate about their approach is their collaboration and communication.”

Multilingual Specialist

“The Canizales Group was careful to weigh the vision and needs of our partner against the best thinking they could find on the targeted content. They managed this through iterative design - frequently checking in to ensure the direction being taken was the right one.

The group brought strong client management skills - they listen carefully to every voice and synthesize what they learn frequently. They also brought great content knowledge and design approaches.

It's hard to have a clear vision while also being flexible and meeting clients where they are. The Canizales Group did a great job of maintaining that balance.”

Director

The Canizales Group centers its work on relationships, both building and maximizing them to the benefit of students and families. They ask tough questions and develop authentic, student-centered solutions while infusing humor and joy. Their vast knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and effective educator and caregiver development and support - especially for bilingual populations - is apparent in all that they do. In addition to strong professional development and facilitation skills, the Canizales Group ensures that time spent with staff and faculty at all levels is purposeful, student-centered, and outcomes-driven. They drive projects to completion, always keeping the outcomes in mind while also remaining flexible to emerging needs.

Network Leader

“One of the greatest assets the Canizales Group brought was the ability to quickly and effectively establish trust. The Canizales Group is well-organized, thorough, flexible, and focused on student and community needs.” -Superintendent

“The Canizales Group approach is professional, steadfast, strategic, and focused on relationship-building and problem-solving, they are impressive. One of the greatest assets they brought was community building, the ability to create space for difficult conversations and having people be heard, real-time facilitation skills, and maintaining a consistent problem-solving mindset with an ability to refocus on our why and create clear pathways to achieve goals.” - Assistant Superintendent of Business Services

“The Canizales group was EXTREMELY knowledgeable and researched and prepared extensively prior to each meeting. They have a strong, diverse background in education and educational leadership and were able to see both the big picture and intricate facets of each situation. They are amazing communicators, well versed in technology, and committed to agreed-upon timelines and action items.” - Coordinator

“The Canizales Group did a great job of taking a blank slate and building a really strong final deliverable in a short amount of time with an early start-up client. They struck the right, values-aligned tone in their content and created a resource that we believe communities will deeply benefit from. What we appreciated most was their aligned values, particularly around liberatory design and disrupting power dynamics, as well as how much fun we had working together. They surpassed our high expectations.”

“The Canizales Group's personal and professional experiences uniquely positioned them to be the perfect facilitators of a family fellowship for predominantly Spanish-speaking mamas. Their bilingual and bicultural facilitation was perfect, as was their blend of personal connection and content expertise. They were very in tune and responsive to the needs of the participants. They were nimble and responsive to the dual-language facilitation demands. They helped us land on the "just-right" language for key concepts, values, etc. and the parents latched onto that language as their own.”

“I appreciated feeling supported throughout our collaboration and their ‘roll up our sleeves together’ approach as we worked to figure out how to build something from scratch. I also really appreciate that they brought their full selves into their work and took the time to bring their identities and experiences into our collaboration and the facilitation space with parent leaders. It was great working with and learning from Latina leaders, I learned a lot about my own leadership, voice, and power through this project and our collaboration.”

Organization Leader

“I would describe the Canizales Group's content knowledge and expertise as extremely high- not just understanding the DCPS district landscape and the relationships that they have fostered over time, but also their deep instructional and pedagogical knowledge about how schools and school systems work has been invaluable. They are extremely professional, proactive, and just all-around awesome partners to work with!”

“The values that the Canizales Group brought to the project include their depth of knowledge/expertise of the DCPS landscape (districts + schools), their expertise connected to school leadership and advice on how to approach communications and strategic thinking, and their project management was on point- balancing keeping us all on track without feeling micro-managed. They truly brought a depth of expertise to all things and would raise important questions for us to weigh as we decided how to proceed on aspects of our project.“

“Canizales Group demonstrated that they are well-versed in current research with building self-efficacy and community amongst aspiring and current Latinx leaders. They were very detail-orientated and responsive to the needs of the participants and our district priorities.”

“It was evident that Canizales Group values customizing content design to clients' needs. They used data about our district’s student and educator performance and well-being metrics, as well as formed a focus group to help inform the content of the PLC. In addition, they surveyed participants throughout the PLC to make adjustments as necessary. The sessions were engaging and fostered multiple practice and application opportunities. All of the participants expressed that sessions felt meaningful and provided them with actionable next steps to apply in their roles.”

District Leaders

“With the Canizales Group, partnership moves at the speed of trust, which was there from the beginning. They are heavy hitters, game changers, and paradigm shifters!!!! Deloitte should consult with the CG. What I most appreciate about collaborating with the Canizales Group is their flexibility and the ability to understand us and process an idea into a product.”

Chief Executive Officer

“There were several assets the Canizales Group brought to this project, most apparent was the extensive experience in research design and implementation. While the subject matter was new for the team, their ability to ask the right questions to ensure the framing of survey and interview questions were targeted at the right audience was fluid. The field-specific questions and sequencing of research phases prompted thorough and thoughtful responses from participants.

I am most appreciative of the quality of project management the Canizales Group brings to their work. The consistent communication, clarity around shared materials and document sharing, and curiosity forward approach when responding to changes all served to establish a strong sense of collaboration throughout the course of the project.”

Organization Leader

“I was very impressed with the coaching and professional development provided by the Canizales group. The feedback from teachers was great after each PD session, the follow-up and communication were always timely and the one on one coaching was stellar.

The Canizales group helped to push our thinking and practice regarding how to best support all of our students. In addition, they helped us think about supporting our entire community from a strength-based perspective.”

Founding Principal

“The Canizales Group is thoughtful, responsive, collaborative, student-centered, and human-focused. Their approach moves beyond equity and centers on liberation. They are incredibly knowledgeable--offering the right combination of scholarship while leaving enough space for the co-creation of knowledge. Their communication is inclusive. They listen intently and reflect regularly to ensure they are following along on the thinking.

The Canizales Group offers extensive expertise to effectively guide a project and challenge our institutional thinking. The group definitely helped us to consider perspectives and lenses that we had not previously explored.

Our entire project with the Canizales Group felt like a joint journey. They are just as genuinely invested in the work as we are as an institution. They care about our students and our project as their own.”

Dean, Student Equity

The Canizales Group is culturally-responsive, warm, and open to learning. The values and assets they brought to this project are critical thinking and wisdom. What we most appreciated about our collaboration with Canizales Group is that they were kind, actively listened to our wants and needs and kept us focused/on task.

Director and Researcher

“The Canizales Group’s knowledge, experience, and collaboration was extraordinary. They were able to thoughtfully co-plan with our team while pushing us and sharing their expertise throughout the project. Their care, dedication, and thoughtfulness as an educator and advocacy for emerging bilingual learners is exceptional.”

Designer

“The Canizales Group's approach, content knowledge, and communication were professional and timely. Values and assets we appreciated are local connections, organizational clarity, thoroughness, sincerity, and humility brought to the work, and their candid advice.”

President

“The Canizales Group brings high-quality facilitation, research-based materials, and approach, while also using a very people-centered approach. Our team had a great experience and felt more connected to one another after the sessions and also built on their fundamental skills in adaptive problem solving and leadership. “

Co-Founder and Partner

“What I most appreciate about our collaboration with the Canizales Group was their candor, preparedness, and their focus on equity.”

Associate Partner

“I am an educator of 14 years and I think this was the best and most useful professional development I have ever participated in. The explanation, model, and practice approach was a wonderful way to present material in a way that immediately had me thinking and PRACTICING how the information could be implemented within my own classroom. I am excited to implement the strategies with our young men next month.”

Teacher

“What we most appreciated about The Canizales Group is their knowledge, facilitation, experience, and understanding of our community’s strengths and areas of growth. They understood the "fear" involved in asking our staff to lean into discussions about internal bias.”

District Leader

“The Canizales Group is organized, thorough, flexible, and collaborative. They listened to the needs of our families. The program delivered was intentionally designed to meet the needs and interests identified in our parent survey. In addition, the sessions were relevant and personal, and connections were made with our families.”

Principal