Presentation
Saturday, January 23, 2027 | 11:05-11:55
In a market where schools are competing for the same shrinking pool of certified teachers, one alternative is to stop competing and start building. Five years ago, Ivy Collegiate Academy launched an internship program with a single university partner, Illinois State University, hosting just 4 interns in its first year. Today, that program has grown to six university partnerships, hosted 10 interns each of the past two summers, and has produced eight full-time hires — teachers who arrived already trained in the school's culture, expectations, and classroom practices before day one.
Facilitator
Dr. Chris Perez
Headmaster
Ivy Collegiate Academy
Dr. Chris Perez is Headmaster of Ivy Collegiate Academy (ICA) in Taichung, Taiwan, where he has served in leadership roles since 2013 and as Headmaster for the past five years. Before joining ICA, he worked as a Residential Director for Job Corps and spent seven years teaching and coaching football, basketball, and flag football in Florida. Over the past five years, he has built ICA's internship program from a single university partnership into six, producing eight full-time teacher hires and evolving the program from a summer-only model into a year-round pipeline.
