Internationals Network and Flushing International

The Internationals Network is a network of 22 schools across the country doing cutting edge work with English Learners, and Flushing International is one of the schools in this network. These schools serve students who have been in the county for four or fewer years. During my sabbatical, I spent four days in schools in the Internationals Network--one day in the Bay Area and three days in New York. I observed students engaging in meaningful, rigorous work taught by passionate, skilled, highly-effective teachers. The community of teachers at the schools was exceptional.

The Internationals Network has a model that includes some approaches that are quite different from a typical ELD/LEP model. Please see the following for a description of their core principles.

http://internationalsnps.org/about-us/internationals-approach/

Students with different proficiency levels are grouped heterogeneously by design, and all subject areas teach language/literacy through content. In some schools, students are not accepted into the schools after 10th grade, and so the upper level classes have students who have all been in the country for at least one year and generally three to four years. Therefore, the upper school classes seem to generally have a range of two proficiency levels in the 11th and 12th grades. In the 9th and 10th grades, the groups are quite heterogeneous.

Some schools have a separate SIFE program. I visited one phenomenal SIFE program that I have outlined in the phonics section of this website. The SIFE students at this school have one very small (in terms of class size) single period intervention class and then the students are integrated for the rest of the day with the other students.

I am impressed with the focus on content-based, differentiated, project-based learning in the schools in the Internationals Network. Their model involves significant choice and texts written at a variety of levels. In at least some of the schools, the 9th and 10th grade classes are combined (with alternating curriculum year to year), and the teachers loop with them. This is an intervention in and of itself since the teachers know the literacy levels of the students well and can provide and respond to regular formative assessment. Also, at least one of the schools I visited does not use letter grades but instead uses portfolios and a mastery model.

I understand that students from these schools have a significantly higher graduation rate and also ELs report more positive sentiments about the school climate than ELs at other schools with a similar demographic. I have not seen data comparing the language proficiency levels and increases in the Internationals Schools versus other schools serving ELs. It might also be difficult to compare schools since the schools in the Internationals Network have specific programs for Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) students, and having higher concentrations of students with limited school in their home languages would impact the data.

Flushing International

All of the international schools that I visited were exceptional. I have decided to highlight Flushing, a well-established International School that has been rated highly by New York Public Schools. Other schools from the Internationals Network have also received high ratings.

The students and staff at Flushing have a strong sense of community, and students report that it feels like a family. The total student contacts for one teacher is about seventy-five students, and the teachers loop with students for two years, resulting in teachers knowing the students well. One teacher explained that looping is an effective intervention since her teaching can be responsive to the students.

The principal, Lara Evangelista, explained that one learning model is used for all at Flushing: teachers, students, and administrators. Everyone is considered a lifelong learner. The principal’s vision and support seem to be an important part of why this school has been so successful.

Below is their mission statement which I have excerpted from their website. The statement captures the strong sense of community and support that I observed at the school.

http://www.flushinginternational.org/about-fihs

Our Mission:

The mission of The Flushing International High School is to serve recent immigrants to the United States who are new learners of English. Our goal is to help each student learn to read, write and communicate clearly in English while maintaining their native language. Our students will learn to use their minds well to think about real-world issues. They will use what they learn to become successful in school as well as in the workplace, and they will learn to speak up for themselves and for their community.

Our Students:

The students of The Flushing International High School are all recent immigrants who are new learners of English. For many of our students, FIHS is their first school in the United States. Other students come to our school from middle schools in New York City. When students begin at our school, they score at intermediate beginner or below on the NYSESLAT exam and have been in the United States less than four years. FIHS students come from 40 different countries and speak over 20 different languages.

Project-based Learning

Project-based learning is an important part of the Flushing International, and I observed the teacher featured in this video and his students during an experiment. The experiments were clearly student driven, and I could sense the excitement in the room. When I spoke briefly with the teacher and read the handouts used, it was clear that the teacher thoughtfully integrated language and content objectives. Please see this link to learn more about his project-based model in this video.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/ell-support-through-pbl-inps

Literacy Instruction, Differentiation, and Translanguaging

The English teachers use both grade level texts and some more accessible books and differentiate for reading levels in their SSR program as well as through an online program (Myon) that they are just beginning to use.

Translanguaging is a strategy used across International Schools for students to access grade level texts and to leverage the resources that bilingual students bring to the table.