frequently asked questions

1. Who can participate in Global Scholars? What are the costs and requirements for schools?

Global Scholars is a virtual exchange program for public school students ages 10 to 13 in cities around the world. The program provides a unique opportunity  for young people to engage directly with peers in international discussion boards and develop solutions to our world’s biggest problems.

The Global Scholars program is in English with integrated support for English language learners. It runs from September through June. Districts and schools pay no fees to participate, but each school signs a Site Agreement with the following requirements:  

  • Educators attend five free, live, interactive online professional development sessions each year

  • Students spend two hours class time per week completing program activities

  • A minimum of 15 students per class are enrolled

  • Students have uninterrupted access to devices with internet connection

  • Multiple schools are enrolled from a district

  • The district provides a liaison to partner with Global Cities to support implementation

2. Where and how does the program fit into the school day? How does it align with local curricula and learning standards?

We work closely with schools and districts worldwide to determine the best fit for your existing curriculum content and the skills you want your students to develop. This includes aligning our curriculum with local and national standards in a variety of core subjects.

Our program activities require two hours per week, which includes in-class activities and e-classroom conversation. Where these two hours fit into the school day is flexible, and they do not need to be the same two hours each week. Global Scholars can be fully integrated into a single subject, elective, or an academically oriented club or enrichment program. Schools can also take an interdisciplinary approach, where teachers from multiple subject areas collaborate to implement the assignments and projects.

Global Scholars is an interdisciplinary curriculum that incorporates authentic English reading, writing, and speaking opportunities, critical thinking skills, research and digital literacy. Our project-based curriculum helps students make connections between classroom learning (in areas such as social studies, math, science) and real-world applications, leading to increased academic engagement. Through group projects, students build confidence and teamwork skills—giving and receiving feedback, collaborating, applying the engineering design process, and more—all while strengthening their learning across subjects.

Our curriculum is created by experienced educators with specialties in TESOL, Language Arts, Social Studies, History, and the Sciences. It incorporates engaging, age-appropriate best practices in teaching and learning. Our Educator Guides include crosswalks with US Common Core English Language Arts Standards as well as International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards.

3. How does Global Cities protect student privacy?

Global Cities takes multiple measures to ensure student privacy is upheld, and that educators and students are prepared to participate safely and constructively in our e-classroom. We are compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other applicable children’s data protection laws. Additionally, we are compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is the strongest privacy and security law in the world.

To enroll students in Global Scholars, Global Cities collects some information about schools, educators, and students, including participant first/last names, school names, participating adults’ email addresses, and participant cities. We use PowerSchool to host the password-protected Global Scholars e-Classroom. Global Cities shares limited personal information with PowerSchool in order to create login credentials that enable password protection of the e-Classroom.  

To ensure that student conversation is safe and constructive, Global Cities trains educators to teach internet safety practices and guide and supervise e-classroom conversation. Our curriculum includes an internet safety learning activity that students complete before they engage in the Global Scholars e-Classroom.  Educators review their students’ work before it is shared in the e-Classroom, and Global Cities staff monitor student work after it is shared in the e-Classroom to remove posts that are inappropriate, off-topic, or share identifying personal data (e.g., student last name, social media handles, home address) and follow up with educators as needed. 

Global Cities demonstrates the impact of the program and elevates student contributions in cities around the world through sharing examples of student work on social media, our website, and in presentations. In all public use of student work, we de-identify student information as much as possible to meet our high standard for student privacy. If we are interested in sharing student work that includes photos, video, or audio of students, we contact schools for an optional additional media release permission.

4. How does Global Scholars support educators?

The Global Scholars program offers free, ongoing support to educators with a variety of resources and opportunities to strengthen their teaching and connect with colleagues around the world:

  • We offer live, one-hour interactive professional development (PD) sessions before each of the 5 curriculum units. During PD, educators receive training on the Global Scholars curriculum and e-classroom, collaborate with international colleagues, and exchange best practices for student learning.

  • Each city and educator enrolled in the Global Scholars program has a dedicated Global Cities program manager who is an experienced educator and provides personalized support for curriculum implementation and adaptations to local contexts.

  • Educators receive detailed lesson plans, an educator guide with preparation and implementation tips, learning goals, and scope and sequence.

  • Educators have access to an online, interactive Teachers' Lounge with curriculum resources and discussion boards where they can share ideas with participating teachers worldwide.

5. How many students, schools, and teachers should a district aim to enroll for a successful pilot?

Global Scholars implementation is most successful when several educators from the same city, guided by a district liaison (i.e. hub leader),  enroll in the program together. This creates opportunities for co-planning and collaboration that facilitates each educator’s implementation. For this reason, we recommend new cities introduce Global Scholars among a cohort of multiple schools, each with multiple classes. This allows for community and collaboration among both teachers and students. Global Cities will work with district leaders to determine a customized plan based on district needs and priorities.

6. What support does a district liaison provide to ensure successful enrollment and implementation?

The district liaison/hub leader collaborates with one of the Global Scholars education program managers to ensure the success of a Global Scholars pilot and ongoing program implementation. Core responsibilities include determining the right fit for the program based on the local curriculum and standards, coordinating outreach and enrollment, meeting with Global Scholars staff 3-4 times per year to review program data, following up to support educators, advising Global Cities on district policies and priorities, and sharing program feedback from district leaders, school leaders, and educators. Over the past decade, we have found that these key elements help educators succeed—ultimately ensuring students stay engaged and develop essential global competence skills.

7. I am interested in enrolling my district in the Global Scholars program. How do I sign up?

Connect with us by submitting our contact form. A member of our team will be in touch with next steps.