Participate Learning 2017-18 End of Year Report

Districts and schools partner with Participate Learning to improve teacher retention and student outcomes.

In the 2017-18 academic year, our programs spanned three states. There are more than 300 programs in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Read a summary of the impact our ambassador teachers and programs have on schools and districts or download the full report here.

Participate Partners

K–12 schools use Participate Learning resources and support for planning, curriculum, and instruction. Participate Learning offers global leaders and dual language programs.

Engagement:

Participate Learning certified peer review aligns best practices in peer review with digital badging. This ensures teachers receive formative feedback on their work.

In the 2017-18 school year, more than 2,000 learning products were peer reviewed in the first year of the program. This demonstrates the program is supporting teachers at scale.

Effectiveness:

Transforming school vision

School administrators reported integration of global instructional practices. They also reported development of global competencies as part of the core mission of their school.

Changes in instructional practice

Ambassador teachers have demonstrated significant change in the integration of global content. In the beginning of the year, 79% of ambassador teachers said students discussed world events at least once per grading period. By the end of the year, 94% of ambassador teachers reported this happening at least once per grading period.

Bilingual development

In addition to global competence, our dual language program embeds target language instruction. This ensures strong foundations in biliteracy development in English, Spanish, and Mandarin.

Impact:

State recognition of global expertise

Sixty-three educators have earned North Carolina’s Global Educator Digital Badge since 2013. Sixty of those used Participate Inc.’s professional development (PD) to meet the requirements.

Increased teacher learning and engagement

Ambassador teachers in Participate Learning’s programs are more satisfied with their PD, according to the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey. They also believe it has impact on student learning.

Global competence development

In Participate Learning programs, student technology use increased. Technology was used to engage students in global investigations about current events.

Student achievement gains

Students in DL classrooms outperform their peers in non-immersion classrooms on NC EOG tests.

Ambassador Teachers

Participate Learning’s longest-running program. We recruit, place, and support highly qualified international teachers in K–12 schools. Our service area covers North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Engagement:

Our ambassador teachers stay in their host school an average of 4.1 years. They have a higher retention rate in NC than teachers who come from other states.

Effectiveness:

99.1 percent of ambassador teachers intend to renew their program participation for the next year. They cited a positive school environment as a reason for renewal. They also cited professional growth and sharing their culture as additional benefits.

Impact:

Ambassador teachers continue to be the most effective in the state of N.C. as measured by EOG testing. They expose students to diverse cultural experiences that might otherwise be inaccessible.

To read more about Participate Learning’s program effectiveness, download the full report.