Dr. Kagan will discuss curricular development for HL speakers of Russian addressing 1) the foundations of HL curriculum built on From-To principles (e.g., exploiting existing strengths as a point of departure); and 2) the rationale for an outcome/proficiency-based curriculum for HL learners. She will base some of her recommendations on data from the UCLA Russian HL placement test.

Dr. Olga Kagan is a professor in the UCLA Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures and the director of the Title VI National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC). Dr. Kagan is in charge of the Russian Language Program and is the director of the Russian Flagship Center at UCLA. She has published textbooks of Russian both as a foreign language and as a heritage language. Her textbook of Russian as a Heritage Language, Russian for Russians, received a book award from the American Association of Teachers of Russian and Eastern European Languages (AATSEEL). Her current main research interest is the teaching of heritage languages. In 2015 she received the MLA Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession.