Closer to Inclusive: The Strategic Imperative to Meet the Needs of All Learners

This hands-on workshop provides school leaders with a framework for leveraging inclusive education programs to enhance a school’s mission and vision, increase overall academic performance, and improve competitive advantage and school reputation. Participants will depart with a practical guidebook for evaluating their service provisions, developing a business plan and staffing model, and taking their inclusion programs to the next level.

CONNECT & ENGAGE

The first part of the workshop highlights the notion that “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to inclusion programs. Participants will be led through a conceptual model that will help them assess their own school’s board member mindsets, various stakeholder group mindsets, and their institutional parameters and limitations for improving and expanding their inclusion programs and services.

This section will also emphasize post-pandemic impacts on student learning and the achievement gaps that currently exist in schools, which should compel institutions to strengthen their assessment tools and better identify student needs and intervention strategies for them.

LEARN

The second part of the workshop helps participants learn about and confront several common myths related to either starting or expanding inclusion programs within international schools. School leaders will assess their own school’s key data points and measures of success for student and organizational performance, determine important enhancements to one’s mission and purpose by expanding inclusive education, and examine factors that help increase a school’s competitive advantage and reputation.

This section also provides a sample in-depth, comprehensive data dive to demonstrate the value of inclusion service provisions to significantly improve overall student and school performance.

REFLECT & APPLY

The third and final part of the session provides school leaders with a practical guidebook tailored to their specific school needs and priorities. Participants will begin to develop their own strategic plan with a three-part structure:

1. Programs and Services (need-based, budget-based, enrollment-based);
2. Staffing Model (Local, International, Hybrid); and
3. Financial Plan (service-driven, income-generating, cost-neutral).

The last segment also reviews the four key components of developing a solid business plan, identifies critical red flags for inclusion program development and expansion, and highlights other value-added benefits for schools seeking to take their inclusive programs to the next level.