Intercultural Competency and Belonging Lab (ICBL)
Four 75-minute virtual sessions across the 2026–2027 school year, grounded in Dr. Gay’s original frameworks, the International School Belonging Model and Fostering Cultures Grounded in Dignity and Respect, and responsive to the specific realities of your community.
The Professional Learning Gap in Belonging for U.S. International Schools
Over three decades, I have witnessed this gap firsthand where international schools valiantly attempt to implement domestic strategies or translate U.S. frameworks for communities that face not only the domestic challenges but also the complexity of multiple countries, cultures, norms, and communication styles, including, at times, students and families from opposing or actively conflicting nations learning alongside one another.
For fifteen of those years, I have worked directly with international schools to address this through individual consultation, including two successful Inclusive Leadership Executive Cohorts in Latin America, one Cohort in Asia, and more recently five Intercultural Competency and Belonging Institutes in Hong Kong, Korea, Panama, Spain, and Austria. Over time, schools began asking for something more sustained. A dedicated learning space they could return to.
U.S. international schools had nothing comparable. The ICBL is my response to that ask.
U.S.-based international schools have virtually no sustained professional learning resources to support cultivating safe and inclusive schools.
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UNIQUE PROBLEM
International schools navigate daily, substantive differences across cultural and national backgrounds, home languages, and identity-based experience. There is no reference text, professional learning, or roadmap specifically for U.S. international schools.
US FRAMEWORKS DON’T WORK FOR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
DEI is a U.S. construct, grounded in U.S. history, nomenclature, constructs of race, legal structures, and cultural reference points that do not resonate in international school communities. International schools have been left to translate U.S. frameworks on their own.
Who should attend?
International school professionals responsible for fostering an inclusive and safe community grounded in dignity and respect.
PARTICIPANT DELIVERABLES
Four 75-minute live sessions during the 2026–2027 academic year
Participant Q&A and structured peer sharing
Post-session resources, frameworks, and practical tools
Periodic guest speakers
School membership badge, participant certificate, and LinkedIn badge
TUITION
$2,000
Annual school membership · Maximum four (4) attendees
PROVISIONAL SESSION TOPICS
Sessions are grounded in dignity and respect as foundational constructs, centering human worth across cultural, national, linguistic, and identity-based difference.
Belonging in International Schools: Best practices, emerging trends, and common pitfalls, examined through Dr. Gay's original frameworks
Intercultural Competency: Moving from awareness to strategy in international schools situated in the Untied States
Restorative Practices: What happens when the restorative model is culturally unfamiliar: promise, limitations, and implementation
International Students and Families: From research to practice: what works and what does not