Professional Development

Internationals Network for Public Schools’ Professional Development program seeks to develop all faculty members’ understanding and ability to implement the Internationals Approach to educating English language learners. The Internationals Approach is specifically designed to help our students graduate from high school prepared for college, career and life in democratic society. One of Internationals’ main focuses is supporting teachers in their development within our schools, so that their growth will in turn support high student outcomes. Our approach to Professional Development at the Network level mirrors our approach to student learning. It is also closely aligned with our work in Leadership Development, and the programs are integrated in many areas.

Professional development in an International High School centers on the interdisciplinary team and activities and workshops that happen at the school level. Data is collected and analyzed on an on-going basis to inform our work and determine priorities for that school year. Internationals strengthens the capacity of schools to do this work through the following aspects of our Professional Development Program:

Professional Development Committee

The primary structure for leading our regional professional development work is regional Professional Development Committees, comprised of one representative from each school who meet at regular intervals. This committee meets monthly to plan network events, develop documents and training materials, identify and share best practices in structuring college ready curriculum and activities based on student data and achievement benchmarks, plan and lead intervisitations to their schools, turnkey information and training, and provide feedback on various initiatives in which Internationals is engaged. Participation in this committee provides a significant opportunity for leadership development as members must solicit feedback from their school-based colleagues and principal, and take the lead on planning and directing various initiatives. The focus is on ensuring that our faculty is capable of providing both instructional and support services to prepare students and their families for transitions to college at the end of their high school careers.

Professional Development Events

Internationals organizes two-day regional summer institutes every August before the beginning of the school year in cities where we have a network of schools. The focus of these institutes is to introduce new teachers to the most fundamental practices and philosophy of the Internationals Approach and to provide them with key strategies to begin to implement it when the school year begins. Annually, Internationals organizes regional network-wide professional development events that are attended by faculty and leaders from across all International High Schools within their respective regions. These events, comprised of workshops, curriculum planning activities, and discussion groups, are led by faculty experienced and proficient in the Internationals Approach. They serve as a “cross pollination” of best practices, curriculum, and ideas across the network and build and deepen ongoing relationships of faculty across our schools. Furthermore, the events provide our most experienced faculty with the opportunity to articulate and share their knowledge and in turn build their capacity to lead others and to sharpen their craft. A key focus is on sharing instructional and supportive practices that prepare our students and their families for the transition to college.

Intervisitations

The Internationals Professional Development Committee leads monthly intervisitations to an International High School. These intervisitations are open to all faculty and staff. The Committee determines the topic and focus of each intervisitation based on a needs and interest assessment of the broader faculty. Each Professional Development Committee member then plans and organizes (with assistance from Network staff) a full day visit that centers on topics such as strategies to address the needs of Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) in the heterogeneous classroom, implementing an effective advisory program, developing an effective internship program, teaching math through projects, and portfolio assessment that enable schools to learn from the innovations and collective knowledgebase of others who serve similar student bodies.

School-Based Work

Internationals staff spend time at the schools leading workshops and working individually with teachers, teams, and school leaders to provide support in implementing the Internationals Approach. Internationals staff also serve as a conduit of information about resources and effective practices that exist in other IHSs that a school leader can draw upon to address current challenges.

Model Documentation and Dissemination

In order to facilitate faculty and leaders’ ability to implement the Internationals Approach, Internationals Network’s team compiles and disseminates various documents that both explain the different aspects of the approach and provide strategies and examples of how it has been implemented. Examples of such documents are the New Teachers Toolkits, College Readiness Handbook, Videos of Exemplary Teaching, Professional Development Workshops on various topics, and binders of articles that support and explain research related to the Internationals Approach. All documents are compiled and distributed in binders to schools as well as being uploaded onto Knowledgebase, an online portal of information and resources.

Video Library

Internationals has worked with videographers to capture some of the exemplary teaching practices that exist across International High Schools. Internationals currently has 10 videos of classroom teaching in the four core subject areas. These videos are distributed to principals and faculty for use in professional development and new teacher training.

The Internationals Network and the International High Schools are constantly seeking both to deepen our ability to implement the Internationals Approach and to improve our practices as we determine new and better ways to serve language minority students and their families. The structures and activities described above that bring together practitioners from across our schools to discuss our work, provide the mechanisms for constant sharing of and reflection on our work and student outcomes, and provide the opportunity to learn from one another and explore new directions.