IAGNextGen x Pittsburgh | Cohort 2: CPM Trainers as Agents of Change

May 18–27, 2025 | Intensive on Inclusive Practices and Partnerships

Organizer: IAGNextGen

The second wave of inspiration brought 18 trainers from the Center for Pedagogical Excellence (CPE) at NIS to Pittsburgh. Their goal: not just to learn inclusive approaches but to find ways to adapt them to Kazakhstan's context.

🧩 A Systematic Program

• Schools as Change Agents: Brentwood Borough School District, Peters Township High School, and California Area School District demonstrated how IEPs, multidisciplinary teams, and infrastructure support accessible education for all.
• Inclusion in Careers: At Parkway West Career & Technology Center, trainers saw how students with special needs are integrated into programs in auto mechanics, digital tech, healthcare, and more — without lowering standards but with full support.
• MuseumLab – Architecture of Kindness: A unique space where every exhibit, every room, every button is accessible and useful. Trainers realized inclusion is design thinking, ethics, and aesthetics combined.
• From Reflection to Modeling: Each evening included group analysis, adapting American strategies to the Kazakhstani context, and work on cases, prototypes, and mini-IEPs.

🌟 Values Carried Forward

• Inclusion is about all learners, not just those with disabilities.
• Diagnosis, adaptation, and support must be standard practices, not emergency measures.
• A true trainer is not the one who knows it all, but the one who helps others see differently.

🎯 Tomorrow Starts Here

IAGNextGen takes pride in creating not just trips, but professional transformations that shape a new philosophy of Kazakhstani schooling — humane, flexible, and inclusive.