Creating Communities of Protection, Resistance and Deeper Learning in Sanctuary Schools: Accompañamiento as Innovation

What if schools moved beyond protection toward innovation to truly accompany immigrant and multilingual students on their educational journeys? In this Den conversation, Lara Evangelista, Executive Director of the Internationals Network for Public Schools, and Chandler Patton Miranda, author of Sanctuary School, explore how schools serving newly arrived students have reimagined deeper learning as a culturally sustaining and empowering practice for some of the country’s most marginalized youth. Drawing on decades of research and practice, they discuss how the Internationals approach to school design, project-based learning, and portfolio assessment fosters collaboration, critical thinking, and deeper learning. Together, they illuminate what it takes to resist unjust policies and hostile social contexts, ensuring that newcomers and multilingual learners can thrive in school and beyond. About the Den Speakers: Chandler Patton Miranda, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Education at Molloy University and an anthropologist of education whose work examines how schools serve recently arrived immigrant youth in an ever-changing political climate. A former high school teacher, her research explores how educators move beyond protection to create inclusive, empowering schools that reflect the principles of deeper learning. Her book, Sanctuary School (Harvard Education Press, 2025), about one Internationals Network high school, draws on ethnographic research to illustrate how educators resist exclusionary policies through care, creativity, and collective leadership. Chandler’s scholarship has been published in journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, and Equity & Excellence in Education. Her work invites educators to reimagine schools as places of belonging, innovation, and renewal for immigrant youth. Lara Evangelista is the Executive Director of Internationals Network, a national nonprofit that partners with public school systems to design and sustain multilingual learning environments for newcomer immigrant students that are grounded in deeper learning, whole-child practices. During her 28 years in New York City Public Schools (NYCPS), Lara led transformative work to improve outcomes for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and district leader. She served as a founding team member and then principal of The Flushing International High School and later as Deputy Superintendent for the Consortium, Internationals, and NYC Outward Bound Schools (CIOB) District in NYC. Lara holds degrees in languages and education from Georgetown University, New School University, Hunter College, and Teachers College, Columbia University, where she is a doctoral candidate in the Urban Educational Leadership program.