Last year, Monique Darrisaw-Akil traveled to an international education conference in Accra, Ghana, and saw an opportunity for a literacy lesson for young students in the Long Island school district she leads.
At the International Educators Summit, she met school leaders from a small Ghanaian village, and they began discussing a project that would engage students from both their communities, despite being an ocean apart, allowing them to learn from each other and improve their reading and writing at the same time.
The result was a partnership through which students from two elementary schools in New York鈥檚 Uniondale school district and the Achinakrom school in Ghana read the same children鈥檚 book鈥�Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, which highlights a young girl鈥檚 family traditions while growing up in New York City鈥攁nd used it as the foundation for an international writing exercise and cultural exchange.
Darrisaw-Akil returned to Ghana this past summer for the same education conference, adding a visit to the Achinakrom school, further cementing the international partnership built around joint learning.
Through the experience, the Long Island superintendent has also gained insights into what makes an international sister school partnership successful.
A project that created a 鈥榮ense of purpose鈥�
When Darrisaw-Akil, who has led the 6,000-student Uniondale district since 2021, returned from the 2024 International Educators Summit, she continued the conversation with her Achinakrom school counterparts and leaders in her own district.
What they settled on was the project based on Tar Beach.
After reading the book, the students in all three participating schools wrote stories about their own cultures and families, and they uploaded them to a shared online platform. Then, the students in each school read the stories and analyzed the similarities and differences in their cultures.
The project exposed students to different cultures and challenged them to write compelling and thoughtful narratives about their own lives, Darrisaw-Akil said.
For the Uniondale students, it helped create a 鈥渟ense of purpose鈥� to know that children on a different continent would read and engage with their writing, she said.
鈥淜nowing that there鈥檚 going to be young people just like them across the world who are going to read their stories added a level of meaning, connection, and purpose that we don鈥檛 always get with all of our assignments,鈥� she said.
The project also served as an exercise in gratitude for the adults, she said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not a rich district, but we realize that we have so much more than some other places, and we鈥檝e been really grateful for the things that we do have, like working technology and access to books and other resources,鈥� Darrisaw-Akil said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been so impressed with the work that the teachers from our partner school are doing without all the bells and the whistles and the things that we take for granted.鈥�
In July of this year, when Darrisaw-Akil returned to Accra for the International Educators Summit, she delivered a presentation about the collaboration with the Achinakrom school鈥檚 head teacher, Linda Sefa, and other Uniondale leaders.
Darrisaw-Akil brought her students鈥� writing as well as a quilt they had made for their partner school. After the conference, she traveled to the school and delivered the gifts.
鈥淚t was just a tremendous, tremendous eye-opening experience鈥攁 transformative experience,鈥� Darrisaw-Akil said.
A relationship based on learning, not charity
When she visited the school in Ghana, Darrisaw-Akil brought basic supplies like pencils and crayons to donate, as well as a couple of laptops.
That was the first time the American school district had donated supplies to its counterpart, despite knowing there was a need.
It was an intentional decision Darrisaw-Akil made to ensure the Uniondale schools understood their relationship 鈥渨asn鈥檛 built on giving to them鈥� because it 鈥渆stablishes a power imbalance we didn鈥檛 want.鈥�
鈥淚 wanted it to be clear that our relationship was built on learning,鈥� Darrisaw-Akil said.
Now, as the Uniondale district鈥檚 new school year gets underway, the second year of the international partnership is also shifting into gear.
Darrisaw-Akil hopes that鈥攄espite the four- to five-hour time difference and uneven access to technology鈥攖he schools will find ways to allow the students to meet and talk over a video call, something that wasn鈥檛 possible in the first year of the partnership.
Successful partnerships are built on shared goals, mutual respect
Districts interested in establishing partnerships with schools outside of the United States don鈥檛 have to 鈥渢ravel across the world like I did in order to make things happen,鈥� Darrisaw-Akil said.
There are some global networks, like the Global School Alliance, that can help introduce districts to international schools with similar educational objectives and partnership goals, she said.
That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important for any district considering such a partnership to clearly establish a specific 鈥渓earning goal鈥� for students, Darrisaw-Akil said, whether it鈥檚 a exploring cultural topic, developing literacy skills, or focusing on a shared academic project.
Schools should also consider how the partnership might work practically and the challenges they might run into throughout the process, and how to address them.
Is there a drastic time difference? Does one school have much more limited access to technology than the other? Would staff members benefit from a quick training to establish 鈥渁 mutual, equitable starting point?鈥� Darrisaw-Akil said.
鈥淲e have to ensure that our 糖心动漫vlog understand it鈥檚 not that we鈥檙e teaching them everything because we鈥檙e 鈥榯he great Americans,鈥� and make sure there鈥檚 a very mutual respect,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o that might require some training, some kind of debriefing, some rethinking. But just because some ways of doing things are different in different cultures, it doesn鈥檛 mean that one is superior to the other.鈥�
Finally, once a partnership is established, leaders from both schools should work together to create lesson plans, establish parameters for how long a joint unit might last, agree on the goals it should accomplish, and determine how to measure success, she said.
鈥淥ur children are going to be working with young people, with peers all over the globe, because technology makes it possible,鈥� Darrisaw-Akil said. 鈥淪o our schools prepare children for the world of work and the world of the future by fostering global understanding, global awareness, and respect for differences.鈥�
