The Principals’ Academy on Internationalizing K-12 schools aims to fill the existing gap among practitioners about what internationalization of education at school level entails. To meet this goal, principals and central office administrators are involved in year-long professional development activities that develop the necessary knowledge and practices to internationalize schools through curriculum and pedagogy, create home-school connections by leveraging diversity from schools and communities, expand foreign language learning, and promote global learning-focused professional development of their teachers. Each principal develops a global project specifically tailored to their school and context. Professional learning communities and networks are built when the principals engage in discussions with each other and the internationalization experts. Also, there is an emerging state-wide network of schools that have a common goal to internationalize their K-12 schools.
The initiative was initially funded by a grant from the Longview Foundation. Currently, the initiative is supported by federal Title VI funds from IU’s Center for the Study of the Global Change.