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| Latin American Educators Visit Collington Square School |
Today a delegation of seven educators from Latin America visited Collington Square School of the Arts to learn about how the Baltimore Curriculum Project helped transform Collington Square from a struggling traditional public school into a productive neighborhood charter school. The group included administrators and teachers from Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
BCP Director of Academic Affairs Jon McGill, BCP Director of Training Tara Anderson, Collington Principal Melvin Holmes and BCP Executive Vice President Larry Schugam talked with the group about BCP's approach to instruction, training, coaching, and behavior management. Several delegation members asked about how BCP engages Latino students.
"We view cultural differences in our schools as assets and capitalize on them, said Mr. Schugam.
"Last year we received a grant from the Baltimore Community Foundation to engage Wolfe Street Academy's Mixteco population - an indigenous group from Mexico - and to celebrate all of the cultures represented at the school. El sabor at Wolfe Street comes through at parent nights and during the annual Wolfest Street Festival.
One visitor was especially interested in the leadership style of Principal Holmes, whom she described as "joven y guapo".
"I trust my teachers and assistant principals. I give them space to succeed and I follow up," said Mr. Holmes.
The school tour included visits to Andrew Gorby's fourth grade reading class and Jane Gervasio's first grade reading class. The visitors were impressed by the consistent focus of the students.
This is the fifth time that BCP has hosted a delegation of educators from another country. The visits, which were arranged by the World Trade Center Institute, have included delegations from Vietnam, Iraq and Egypt.
In September BCP Director of Training Tara Anderson was invited to Egypt to teach about behavior management. Today she was invited to travel to Latin American to provide training around the BCP model.
"We appreciate the opportunity to share the good work we are doing at Collington and other BCP schools with the world," said Mr. Schugam.
The World Trade Center Institute (WTCI) is the largest international business network of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic - a who's who of the top global business executives in the region. At WTCI we strive to drive the growth of Maryland's flourishing global business community. Today more than 2,500 Maryland firms benefit from WTCI's global connections, events, and extensive international business services. WTCI was established in 1989. Financed jointly by area businesses and the State of Maryland, WTCI operates as a private, non-profit membership organization. For more information visit: https://www.wtci.org/