INTERNAL UPDATES

FY 24

Aug 2023

  • Staff Meeting: Staff retreat on August 29 and 30th
  • Holidays honored (days off): None
  • Staff Birthdays: Genna – Aug. 13
IT
  • FYI the Konica copier has been setup with wifi access. You can now print wirelessly to the copier. To add Konica copier to your computer, go to System Settings => Printers & Scanners => Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax. When the Add Printer dialogue shows up select the globe tab in the middle and then follow the screenshots below to setup the rest. Please let me know if you need help setting it up.
    In case you need the copier driver, here’s the link to the driver: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_CdvmeZCWD_NFbTPAKD6dr5UiiggxEFZ/view?usp=drive_link

ED NEWS
  • July was a surprisingly busy month for the organization, especially this past week. We submitted a draft grant to Carnegie that was well-received and Liliana and José also worked furiously with Dolan and members of the Consortium to submit a collaborative RFP to NY State for their Performance Assessment pilot program. At the same time, Nancy helped us complete and get in the ACPS RFP. All due in the same 2-day period – whew- talk about collaboration. Thank you to everyone who chipped in to help last week!
  • Strategic planning is also moving along and we are starting to get organized for the staff retreat on August 29 and 30th, where we will launch and dig into the work. Look for details soon. Operations is in the midst of closing the books and prepping for the yearly audit, so everyone has their hands full!
  • I went to New Bedford, MA last week to meet with the superintendent and their immigrant advocacy and support organization, Immigrant Assitance Center, who are interested in a possible collaboration. I have also been meeting with a variety of possible CA funders to support our work there, which is needed with new academies and new leaders. Exciting possibilities ahead!
  • Just as an FYI, I am on call-in federal jury duty for the next two weeks, which means my schedule may be upended last minute. Apologies in advance if this disrupts you as well.
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS
  • The 2023-24 Event Tracker for all Internationals events is now available for your use.  
  • Summer Institutes are Bay: July 31 / Aug 1, DC: Aug 2 / Aug 3 both have around 30 participants and as usual most who are new to the network!
    NYC: Aug 24 / Aug 25 
  • Mireia and Dolan faciliated a Curriculum Development Intensive in NYC. Here’s what some participants shared about their experience: 
    • “I celebrate the sense of community and I thank everyone for being so generous.” 
    • “Being part of this PD is when you celebrate to be part of the Internationals network because I found other math teachers creating PBL and they helped me to organize my thoughts.”
    • “After attending this week I feel much more ready to start the school year.”
    • “I am grateful for the spirit of collaboration and exchange (of ideas) that took place this week.”

RESEARCH
  • Please welcome our new graduate student data interns!
    Xixia Ni and Michelle Uroza will be working with us to gather data on enrollment and demographics, work on the feedback forms, and expand our understanding of linguistic diversity among students enrolled in several of our schools.  They will each work 10 hours per week remotely.  Both Michelle and Xixia are Masters’ students in New York University’s Steinhardt School. 
  • NEW FORM FOR SCHOOLS TO SUBMIT DATA FILES!   ‘In an effort to maintain the safety and security of data,  we have a new form we will be using when we request data from schools.  After communicating with schools what we are asking them to share, we will use THIS FORM where they can upload files directly to our google drive.  This prevents files from being emailed and simply keeps things safer. Please remember to remind schools NEVER to email us student lists.  Nothing else changes in our schedules and processes.  You can also refer to this set of tips on keeping student data safe.
  • Learning Briefs 2023-24!!!  Please contribute your ideas!  The 2023-24 series of Learning Briefs will focus on Project-Based Learning and Multilingual Learners. We know that PBL promotes the kind of instruction and learning that is goodfor our students, very little has been written on how to do it with ELs and why. Three briefs for the coming year will explore: Why do PBL with MLLs? How do you do it? and What happens as a result?  If you have ideas for artifacts or someone in the network we should interview, please email Marguerite!! This is a group effort!!
  • Two New Resources from US Department of Education

The US Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition has just released a new version of the Newcomer Toolkit. Internationals’ Core Principles are highlighted as is Oakland International HS.  The report is available at https://ncela.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/NewcomerToolkit-06222023-508_OELA.pdf 

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a fact sheet explaining access to specialized or advanced educational programs and services for English learners. It explains legal requirements that schools must follow to ensure that eligibility requirements and procedures for specialized or advanced educational programs do not screen out ELs. English Fact Sheet / Spanish Fact Sheet

DEVELOPMENT
  • Carnegie Corporation of NY: Internationals has been invited to submit a proposal to the Carnegie foundation for $750,000. This will be a general operating grant supporting our programmatic work across the country and if awarded, will begin in January 2024.
  • Hewlett Foundation: The Hewlett Foundation awarded Internationals $75,000 to support our strategic planning work.
COMMUNICATIONS

Click here for the New Online Brand Guide: Access all the logos, color codes and photos for presentations

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Communications Request form Save the link!

Step One: Fill out the form with essential information.

Step Two: Cora will set up a short meeting to discuss details within 1-2 business days.

ALL requests need to be made asap or at least a 3 WEEKS NOTICE.

Reach out to Liliana AFTER completing the form for any last minute requests.