Grace Evans | February 17th, 2025
“My ultimate goal is to increase awareness of global competencies for all educators and students. We live in an interconnected world that requires these competencies.”
This month UNC World View is honored to feature two dedicated global educators who support global education and educators from all across North Carolina. Kelly Schultz and Phylisha Sanders serve in many roles at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), but this month we highlight their work in global education and with the Global Education Steering Committee.
Kelly Schultz serves as the Standards Implementation Specialist in the Office of Teaching and Learning at NCDPI. In this position, she leads the Global Education Steering Committee, supporting regions statewide. The Global Education Steering Committee comprises cross-agency representation, including standards areas, Advanced Learning and Gifted Education, Career and Technical Education, and federal programs. Prior to this, Kelly served as a classroom middle school teacher for ELA, Gifted, and Social Studies in both Illinois and North Carolina. She was also a 6-12 curriculum coach and MTSS District Coordinator for Clinton City Schools and the Middle Grades ELA consultant for NCDPI.
“I knew I wanted to be a part of global education in North Carolina after attending an NCDPI global awareness training while I was still a classroom teacher. I attended this training to build my capacity as a global educator because global competencies are essential skills students need to thrive in our interconnected society. I am fortunate to be able to lead in this role today.”
To aid educators in global education, Kelly has revamped the Global Educator Digital Badge process to make it more accessible for educators to receive credit for what they do in their classrooms to improve global education. This badge process is a way for educators to earn a series of micro-credentials aligned with global competencies and the Professional Teaching Standards. After earning the six credentials, educators receive the Global Educator Digital Badge. Additionally, Kelly is facilitating a global education book study utilizing the text Teaching for Global Competence: Preparing Our Students to Engage the World by Veronica Boix Mansilla and Anthony W. Jackson. 12 educators from various schools, grade levels, content areas, and positions are participating in this 7-week pilot through a Canvas course. Participants are engaging in rich discussions and activities that support them on their Global Educator Digital Badge journey.
“My ultimate goal is to increase awareness of global competencies for all educators and students. We live in an interconnected world that requires these competencies.”
Kelly aims to support educators with multiple initiatives, such as global and character education. She aims to help educators see the connections that already exist between them and the Standard Course of Study. According to Kelly, Global Education naturally aligns with Character Education, particularly in the following ways:
- Empathy: By studying global issues and diverse cultures, students develop empathy as they learn to understand and share the feelings of others.
- Social Awareness: Global Education enhances social awareness by helping students recognize and respect the perspectives and experiences of people from different backgrounds.
- Relationship Skills: Collaborative global projects and cultural exchanges promote relationship-building skills, encouraging students to work effectively with peers from diverse backgrounds.
- Responsible Decision-Making: Understanding global issues and their local impacts empowers students to make informed and ethical decisions.
Phylisha Sanders began her career in education as a Head Start lead teacher and later taught middle school social studies in a growing North Carolina school district. During her twelve years of teaching, she took on various leadership roles at the school and in the district. Currently, she is a K-12 Social Studies Education Consultant at NDPI. In her role, she works on the team that develops and implements the K-12 Social Studies Standards and provides support to districts and schools across the state.
As a member of the NCDPI Global Education Steering Committee, Phylisha is committed to ensuring that North Carolina’s public school graduates are “globally engaged and productive citizens.” She has been leading International Education Week since 2019, an initiative that promotes global education and cultural exchange, highlighting the need to prepare students for an interconnected world. Each year, she collaborates with the committee and community partners to inform public education stakeholders about various global education resources, recognitions, policies, and learning opportunities available in North Carolina.
Through her leadership during International Education Week, there have been opportunities across the state for educators and students to:
- Showcase their global engagement, awareness, understanding, and responsiveness.
- Raise awareness of global issues and learning.
- Gain new insights and perspectives on cultures from around the world.
- Access information on global education resources, policies, learning opportunities, and global recognitions, such as the Global Educator Digital Badge and Global Ready Schools/Districts.
Working at NCDPI, Kelly and Phylisha have a strong partnership with UNC World View. They meet regularly to discuss ways to support the field, using UNC World View resources. These resources and lesson plans help to promote global education in NC’s schools.
From her time in the classroom until now, Phylisha has had the pleasure of attending several global symposia and virtual professional learning opportunities, including the UNC World View 2024 K-12 Global Education Symposium. Together Phylisha and Kelly presented a concurrent session on “Infusing Global Education into the NC Standard Course of Study”. During the session, educators participated in several activities that showcased how to infuse global education into various content areas.
Phylisha agrees that “UNC World View has contributed to my personal and professional growth. I have become more aware of and sensitive to the different needs of various people and communities around the world. I appreciate that UNC World View consistently offers a wide range of global topics and features speakers with unique experiences that inspired them to become leaders or researchers in their field. Their professional learning opportunities have motivated me to learn as much as possible and continue to be engaged and informed about global issues, innovations, and needs.”
Phylisha is often seeking ways to positively impact the global education community. One upcoming opportunity that she is excited about is the first annual Institute on Global Perspectives, which she is helping to plan. The event will focus on the intersection of character education and global learning. Additionally, she is organizing activities for this year’s International Education Week, happening in November.
UNC World View appreciates Kelly’s and Phylisha’s dedication and vision to creating transformative global education learning opportunities for all educators in North Carolina.