2025|Impact Report

National Leadership Retreat

What is Leadership Retreat?

The Internationals Network’s 2025 National Leadership Retreat took place from March 13 – March 15 in the DMV region. This unique gathering leveraged the strength of our national network bringing together school leaders from across the country to engage in constructive dialogue with one another about best practices as well as opportunities to discuss challenges and engage in deep conversations around difficult topics, all connecting to this year’s theme: Protecting Dreams and Building Futures in our Network.

What did participants engage in?

Participants engaged in a combination of whole-group and break-out
sessions, including a network-wide session on Leveraging Our Network to
Lead Through Crisis, two rounds of success shares, and an afternoon
dedicated to school wide or individual problems of practice. Participants
also selected two out five workshops to attend during the retreat:

1. Supporting Student Attendance
2. Leadership in Literacy Initiatives
3. School Transformation
4. Building Instructional Leadership Capacity from Within
5. The Future of PBL, Portfolio, and Performance-Based Assessment

Attendance Snapshot

School leaders

Network schools

States

Trends

%

of surveyed attendees noted that they had the opportunity to exchange ideas with like-minded leaders across the network.

%

of surveyed attendees noted that they had the opportunity to share and discuss experiences, challenges, and strengths.

%

of surveyed attendees noted that they had the opportunity to learn about new initiatives or successes across Internationals’ national network.

What did leaders take away from NLR?

1. Re-envision instructional leadership development and clarify the instructional vision and goals for staff

2. Continue to work on curriculum development and cross-curricular projects by launching a structured curriculum planning opportunity for teachers to refine and establish their curriculum with set standards before the school year starts

3. Develop strategies to improve student attendance and engage students in a safe and supportive environment with enhanced student voice

4. Encourage their teachers to engage in professional development to improve their practice, organize and share teachers’ best practices, while also supporting them in trying new strategies focused on specific goals like reading, writing, and speaking

5. Utilize assessment & data management tools, such as classroom visit capture sheet or data warehouse to monitor teaching practices and student progress

“I learned a lot of various strategies and resources that I can use to support literacy initiatives at our school. I also gained clarity in thinking about planning for leadership roles and structures including collaborative teams as well as including transparency throughout the process.”
– Justin, Albuquerque Public
Schools

“The workshops were a perfect balance between learning from the facilitator and also learning from other parts of the network. I really appreciate the m any opportunities for talking in depth with other leaders across the network.”
– Antonio, Albuquerque Public Schools

“Both workshops were extremely helpful. I’m leaving wth an attendance process map that I will be sharing with my Coordinated Care Team and a stronger instructional vision and commitment to uphold it than I had before.”
– Sara, Marshall High School

“Excellent workshops; the prompts and time allotted, the small learning circles, jigsaws and strategies from everything from portfolio organization to community support building was super beneficial to me and my program!”
– John, Lafayette International Community High School

“The attendance workshop gave us outstanding tools that we can use to rethink our attendance structures. It was so powerful it might transform the entire school.”
– Ben, IA at Alexandria City High School