Our Approach
While teachers in many parts of the world regularly engage in classroom-based professional development, it remains surprisingly rare in the U.S. The Multilingual Inquiry Collective (INC) is the first professional development initiative in the National Writing Project's 50 year history to leverage lesson study and laboratory classrooms as learning tools.
Once talented practitioners complete an INC Distinguished Fellowship, they are invited to join our regional network of laboratory classrooms, welcoming others into their classrooms to learn alongside them. Facilitated lab classroom visits provide shared space for not just practitioners to learn from one another, but for researchers and policymakers to engage in the daily life of classrooms. Laboratory classrooms and lesson study have become a centerpiece of our change model as they offer a collective vision for high-quality practice through experiential learning. We recognize that seeing is believing - especially when observing what was once thought impossible.
Our approach is inspired by founder Jane Charlotte Weiss’ experiences with the Public Education Business Coalition, a Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Finnish Education System, all of which utilize laboratory classrooms.
Our Team
Jane Charlotte Weiss
Jane Charlotte Weiss is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education studying Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education. She researches collaboration, inquiry, and learning environments that support multilingual children and teachers to thrive. Prior to Stanford, she taught K-6 multilingual students for more than a decade and traveled to Finland on a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching. This cultivated her lasting love for saunas, coffee breaks, and collectivist cultures.
Founder
Isaiah Yisrael
Communications Coordinator
Isaiah Yisrael recently graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she studied Psychology, Spanish, and Linguistics. At Emory, her research focused on how the bilingual language experience impacts literacy development and executive functioning. She is excited to learn more about multilingual education pedagogy with INC!
Our Partners & Collaborators
Stanford’s Understanding Language Initiative
A Stanford Graduate School of Education initiative to help policymakers, researchers, states, district staff, and schools better serve multilingual learners.
Our work utilizes materials from the Understanding Language initiative to support teachers and encourage collaboration in the multilingual education space.
The National Writing Project
One of the longest standing examples of practitioner and researcher collaboration, the NWP has sustained 50 years of changing standards, assessments, and policies through a simple commitment to creating space for educators to learn from one another.
Funding from the Bay Area Writing Project will support the 2025 INC Distinguished Fellowship Cohort.
The Public Education and Business Coalition
A nonprofit dedicated to supporting educators on all levels. The PEBC developed the Learning Labs model, which situates teacher learning right alongside students as the nuances of planning, instruction, and assessment come together.
INC Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in three full-day Learning Labs as inspired by the PEBC model.
Contact us
Contact us
Photo by Ryan Zhang