Professional Learning

The application is now open for New England high schools to visit innovative schools serving multilingual learners this fall

Fall 2025 Learning Excursion to the Washington, D.C. Area featuring Innovative Schools serving Multilingual Learners

Why is next gen learning uniquely positioned to provide multilingual learners with the learner-centered educational environments they need to learn language skills and academic content at the same time?

What does high-quality instruction, high academic expectations, and a range of personalized supports designed for multilingual learners look like?

How does next gen learning provide multilingual learners with deeply engaging, highly rigorous, empowering learning experiences in high school leading to their academic, college, and career success?

Explore Next Gen Learning Designed for Multilingual Learners

If you are in New England and interested in exploring next gen learning designed for multilingual learners, NGLC and the Barr Foundation invite you to gather a team of 6-9 educators, students, and key partners and apply for the Fall 2025 Innovative Schools Learning Excursion. This excursion to the Washington, D.C., area, October 21-24, 2025, features innovative schools serving multilingual learners: International High School at Langley Park and International Academy at Hammond Middle School, along with educational partner Internationals Network for Public Schools.

Applications are due Friday, August 15, 2025. Mini-grants are provided to support team participation, travel, and learning. Grants are totaled at $750 per team member.

Download the program overview for detailed information about eligibility, the application and selection process, learning goals, and the program experience, and to access the application.

International High School at Langley Park

Founded in 2015, International High School at Langley Park (IHSLP) is a high school in Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland. In a language-rich, collaborative, competency-based, and project-based learning environment, the 360+ multilingual learners experience language and content integration in all of their courses. Students attending IHSLP are immigrants who have recently arrived in the United States, with 17 percent having experienced limited or interrupted formal education. A particular strength of IHSLP is its focus on school culture and social-emotional learning, evident in their thoughtful advisory program. The school's values of empowerment, collaboration, and critical thinking are embodied in their vision: EC2 = S, Empowering Collaborative, Critical Thinkers for Success

Learning excursion participants will have the opportunity to learn about next gen learning strategies in use at IHSLP, including mastery projects, vertical scaffolding, common instructional strategies, and language integration.

International Academy at Hammond Middle School

Also established in 2015, the International Academy at Francis C. Hammond Middle School is an academy of approximately 300 students in a larger sixth to eighth grade middle school in Virginia's Alexandria City Public Schools. The International Academy's program of academic services are offered to recently arrived immigrant students in the district who are learning the English language. A team of teachers and a school counselor serve students, meeting their specific individual needs while teaching core academic content and the English language simultaneously. Learning is project-based and collaborative with students working in groups with diverse levels of language proficiency and home languages.

Learning excursion participants will have the opportunity to observe how the adult teaming is structured to support multilingual learners through instruction, student supports, and tiered interventions. Observing next gen learning in a middle school and a high school will illuminate the needs and opportunities for coherence as well as examine strategies to ease the transition to ninth grade for multilingual learners.

Internationals Network for Public Schools

Internationals Network started in 2004, partnering with school districts and community organizations to transform education for immigrant and refugee multilingual learners. Their work crosses three areas: designing new schools and programs within existing schools; coaching leaders, teachers, and school staff; and providing access to a network of support and learning for those who work with them. Internationals Network has developed a comprehensive approach to the education of immigrant and refugee youth that addresses the areas of a school’s structure, pedagogy, culture, and governance that effectively serve multilingual learners.

Learning excursion participants will observe the Internationals Approach, a set of 5 Core Principles, at IHSLP and International Academy at Hammond and, with Internationals Network's support, explore ways to apply them to their own schools. These “HELLO” Principles are based on proven practice and research and provides school leaders, teachers, and staff with high leverage strategies that lead to better outcomes for students:

• Heterogeneity + Collaboration
• Experiential Learning
• Language + Content Integration
• Localized Autonomy + Responsibility
• One Learning Model for All

Apply for the Fall 2025 Innovative Schools Learning Excursion by August 15

All of us at NGLC and the Barr Foundation are so excited for this opportunity to dive deep into the best practices for educating multilingual learners with next gen learning strategies. We encourage applications from New England high schools that are ready to work together to redesign the learning experience with multilingual learners in their schools. Gather a team of 6-9 educators, students, and key partners and submit your application by August 15!

Learn More and Apply

Photo at top courtesy of NGLC: Students from Sunnyside Unified School District in Arizona and students from participating teams in the Spring 2025 Innovative Schools Learning Excursion participate in a fishbowl experience. They discussed what they need from their schools and learning while the adults around the outside of the "fishbowl" listened to their conversation.