About Internationals
Our students come to us speaking little English; our graduates are prepared for college.
The Internationals Network for Public Schools is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and support of the network of International High Schools that serve late-entry immigrant English Language Learners. Internationals currently supports eight small public high schools in New York City and has targeted national expansion over the next five years.
The inception of the Internationals Network for Public Schools can be traced to the creation of the first International High School, launched in 1985 as a collaborative effort between the New York City Department of Education and LaGuardia Community College to address the growing population of recent immigrant students in New York City with limited English language proficiency. As the innovative pedagogical model began to take shape, student academic performance and achievement grew, as did interest in the development and replication of the Internationals model.
In 1993, eight years after the opening of the original International High School, a second International High School opened in Manhattan, and a third school in Brooklyn soon followed in 1994. These schools formed an unincorporated network called the International Schools Partnership. This network of schools held faculty retreats, designed a common performance based assessment system, organized varied forms of professional development and shared resources. In 2001, a fourth school, Bronx International High School opened. The formal Internationals Network for Public Schools (Internationals) was officially created in 2004 with a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to build on the 20-year history of development and success by formalizing the network among the existing schools and developing more International High Schools.
Upon formation in 2004, Internationals opened two new schools in New York City: the International High School at Prospect Heights and the Flushing International High School. In 2005, the Internationals network expanded further with its third International High School located in Brooklyn, International High School at Kingsborough Community College, and with the second International High School in the Bronx, International Community High School, in 2006. With the opening of these schools, Internationals has eight schools across New York City.
Our Mission
Today, Internationals’ mission is to provide quality education for recently arrived immigrant students by developing and networking small, public high schools based on the Internationals Approach, a unique educational model through which students explore interdisciplinary academic content in learner-centered environments with linguistic heterogeneity. Internationals students learn collaboratively in small groups with students of other cultures and languages. They build on the strengths they bring as young adolescents who have often traveled great distances to arrive in our classrooms. Working with other students on academic projects fosters active student use of and growth in language. This pedagogical approach, called the Internationals Approach, is based upon five major tenets:
The Internationals Approach to Educating English Language Learners
- Heterogeneity and collaboration: Heterogeneous and collaborative structures that build on the strengths of every individual member of the school community optimize learning
- Experiential learning: Expansion of the 21st century schools beyond the four walls of the school building motivates adolescents and enhances their capacity to successfully participate in modern society
- Language and content integration: Language skills are most effectively learned in context and emerge most naturally in purposeful, language-rich, experiential, interdisciplinary study
- Localized autonomy and responsibility: Linking autonomy and responsibility at every level within a learning community allows all members to contribute to their fullest potential
- One learning model for all: All learners, faculty and students, experiencing the same learning model maximizes their ability to support each other
In addition to this innovative pedagogical approach, the holistic approach to student education and learning is central to the Internationals’ core philosophy. Schools form close-knit, supportive communities for students who may feel displaced after moving from another country and are unfamiliar with American language and culture. Differences among students are cherished and nurtured as they are continually encouraged to celebrate their cultural and linguistic individuality.
Services Internationals provides to schools
Internationals provides services in the following areas:The Principal Mentor is engaged one day per week for the first four years of Principal’s tenure in a new school and the first two years for each new principal of an existing school.
- Focus on providing support and professional development for the school and school leader
- Take an active role in teacher professional development and supporting academic initiatives
Professional Development provides opportunities for faculty to learn and grow within their own schools and across the network throughout the year.
- Local / Regional professional development sessions during Fall and Spring
- Summer Network-wide session
- Ongoing professional development at individual schools on an as-needed basis
- Coordination of inter-visitations among faculty members at different International High Schools
- Coordination of a “buddy system” in which new teachers are paired with an experienced teacher at another International High School in their same discipline area for additional support
- Engage teams of teachers in intra-network curriculum development projects through a network RFP process
- Launch a curriculum sharing website to facilitate the transmission of creative and effective lesson plans and teaching strategies (coming Spring, ‘06)
- Identify, annotate, compile, and disseminate exemplary curriculum units through website (coming spring, ‘06) and school representatives (now)
- Organize ongoing monthly principal meetings, an annual two-day principal leadership retreat, and support and participation for intra-school leadership and advocacy
- Assist in the identification and launching of a student tracking performance system for all schools in the network to allow teachers and school leaders to facilitate data collection efforts and to make data-driven decisions to improve school performance
- Engage and work with third party evaluator to highlight successes and areas for growth on an annual basis
- Build alliances with other organizations (e.g. New York Immigration Coalition, Coalition for Excellence and Equity for English Language Learners) to advocate for services and funding for ELL students, parents, and schools
- Work with local, state and federal agencies, including the Department of Education, to advocate for our schools and the International model
- Coordinate visitors with schools
- Send bi-weekly email to school leaders to update them on our work and share news of the schools
- Provide grant monies for New Leaders Preparation and Training (as needed) and support for new school Planning Team participants
- Create a start-up manual for school leaders and planning team
- Develop and coordinate an internship program for new school principals before they open a school
- Provide support for school during its early years, including extra funding, technical assistance, and a Coordinator of Special Programs (piloting in SY 2005-06)
- Recruit and interview principal candidates, and create a Principal Hiring Committee to hire new principals for new International High Schools
- Assist schools in teacher recruitment by communicating available job openings through online and printed advertisements
- Coordinate preparation and distribution of printed advertisements in native language papers for students
- Received a grant in 10/05 from the Lumina Foundation to fund a college access program in four International High schools this year and six next year. This funding supports after school test preparation classes, college application help, parent meetings, college trips, and an Internationals College Fair
- Formed a partnership with the French Consulate to provide after school French classes for Francophone students in our schools
- Engage in fundraising for other special programs on an ongoing basis
- Received two grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to both open new schools and to support the building of the network, including professional development, curriculum development and other network services listed above, and the building of the organization
We moved! Our new office is located at:
50 Broadway, Suite 2200
New York, NY 10004
| General phone number: | (212) 868-5180 |
| Fax: | (212) 868-5188 |
| Name | Title | Contact Information |
|---|---|---|
| Jessica Lee | Academic Affairs Associate | jessica.lee@internationalsnps.org (212) 868-5186 |
| Janine Martyr | Associate, Finance & Operations | janine.martyr@internationalsnps.org (212) 868-5184 |
| Sharon Lungrin | Director of Business Operations | sharon.lungrin@internationalsnps.org (212) 868-5184 |
| Camille Rodriguez | Director of New School Development | camille.rodriguez@internationalsnps.org (212) 868-5185 |
| Claire E. Sylvan | Executive Director | claire.sylvan@internationalsnps.org (212) 868-5182 |
| Suzanne Timmer | Director of Development | suzanne.timmer@internationalsnps.org (212) 269-2389 |
| Thomas Thomson | Executive Assistant | thomas.thomson@internationalsnps.org (212) 868-5180 |
| Daria Witt | Director of Academic Affairs | daria.witt@internationalsnps.org (212) 868-5187 |