José Viana, the former director of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of English-language acquisition, will serve as senior education advisor of Lexia Learning Systems, Rosetta Stone’s literacy education division.
Viana shared the news via social media. Education Week wrote last month about his plans to leave the education department. Rosetta Stone, a Virginia-based company known for its language-learning products, provides K-12 school services for English-language learners and foreign-language instruction.
It has been an honor to serve our nation’s emergent bilingual students while leading OELA. I am excited to be joining @LexiaLearning - a @rosettastone company. Together, we will help shape the future of English language acquisition! My work with the kids I cherish continues... pic.twitter.com/a9gAQiLu2j
— José A. Viana (@JVianaOELA) December 14, 2019
Viana, who had led the office since April 2017, let Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos know last month about his plans to leave the post. In the role, he oversaw a $60 million budget and the education of the nation’s nearly 5 million English-language learners.
The education department has not yet announced who will serve as Viana’s successor.
Before coming to Washington, Viana spent eight years as an administrator at the North Carolina education agency, working to help the children of migrant workers overcome academic challenges. He began his career as an English-language-learner teacher in the Miami-Dade school district in Florida. Viana also spent time as a teacher and administrator in Durham, N.C., public schools.
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