About Confianza
At its core, confianza is a cultural concept meaning mutual respect and trust. Respect changes the status quo and communities are built on trust. We embody confianza by building strong, caring relationships with our clients and understanding their needs to create a plan that will help teachers and students thrive. Together, what we can accomplish is limitless.
Our Vision & Mission
At Confianza, we envision an educational landscape where all leaders and educators are equipped with the skills and knowledge to provide inclusive, culturally responsive education. We offer flexible online courses, online workshops and curriculum resources that are designed to fit into your schedule so you can ensure that every student’s potential is fully realized. By intentionally creating equitable and engaging learning environments, we help educators support every student's unique journey.
Why Confianza?
Too often, student talent goes untapped because educators lack the tools to effectively support linguistically diverse learners. Confianza, led by Sarah Bernadette Ottow and her dedicated team, helps schools close achievement gaps by providing specific, actionable approaches that build capacity across the entire system and help to unlock every student’s potential.
How We Help
We break down the silos and help identify barriers that prevent many learners from achieving their highest potential. Our approach focuses on implementing scaffolded learning pathways, culturally responsive teaching guides and immersive practice activities that enrich academic language development and content learning. We start with Tier 1/universal instruction to ensure that all students can benefit.
Culture and Identity in Learning
Culture and identity are central to learning, especially for multilingual students. As educators, we must acknowledge, respond to, and celebrate the diverse backgrounds of every learner. This includes incorporating their first language (L1 home language/native language/mother tongue) and building a classroom culture that values multilingualism and translanguaging.
We Live Our Values
Confianza is a mission-driven, woman-owned small business committed to diversity, equity and social justice. A portion of our sales go directly to nonprofit organizations that share our values. Our programs are rooted in cultural understanding, communication and collaboration, fostering environments where all students, particularly those who are historically underrepresented, can thrive.
Our Core Values
Valuing ALL languages and cultures
Equity-driven leadership
High expectations for all students
Differentiated and student-centered instruction
Learning within context
Educators as social agents of change
Meet Our Founder
Sarah Bernadette Ottow, a proud first-generation college graduate and nationally recognized woman-owned small business owner, has been designing and facilitating high-impact multilingual learning experiences for more than 20 years.
In 2015, she founded Confianza and created The Language Lens Academy to provide coaching, guidance and content that helps schools and organizations improve equity, language and literacy through cultural understanding and collaboration.
Ottow is a certified PK-12 ESL and Bilingual Education teacher with a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and certifications in general education, English as a Second Language, bilingual education, reading and coaching/mentoring. She is also the author of The Language Lens for Content Classrooms Guidebook.
“Working with Confianza enhanced the capacity of our district to teach all students. Our building principals, central office staff, and teachers have been inspired by their engaging hands-on support.”
“These resources really helped guide us through our collaboration process. We’ve spent time working together and using what we learned to jump in and start co-teaching!”
“Confianza has a wealth of knowledge, tools, and strategies to help your school move forward in meeting the needs of all students. Our language specialists and content area teachers feel more equipped.”