For Schools

Shared Goals and Best Practices

NWSE shares with your school a focus on positive educational outcomes and supports foreign language study. Our goals:
  • To work with American schools toward educationally valuable, academically successful and enjoyable cultural experiences
  • To select exchange students with the qualifications necessary to succeed academically and socially at their American schools
  • To encourage and select qualified American high school students for educational exchange programs for an academic term overseas.
  • To provide exchange students and host communities with opportunities to build positive relationships and learn about each other’s cultures, languages and life.
  • To allow exchange students to immerse themselves in American culture by participating actively in the daily life and activities of their host family, school, and community.
  • To comply with all school rules, policies and procedures.
NWSE carefully selects, prepares, and monitors students and host families:
  • Exchange student applications submitted to your school include: detailed academic transcripts, essays, teacher recommendations, a physical examination, medical history, immunization records, and other important information.
  • Each program candidate is interviewed in depth to assess their qualifications for the program.
  • NWSE routinely conducts a second round of interviews to better assess the students’ personality, level of English and other qualifications…
  • Students take the standardized English Language Test for International Students (ELTiS, unless exempted by NWSE). If a school requires the test for a student who was exempted, NWSE quickly arranges for the student to take the test. For more information about the ELTiS, please click here.
  • All students participate in a pre-departure orientation in their home country.
  • Upon program start, all students also take part in a post-arrival orientation.
  • All host families are screened, at a minimum, through a detailed application, a background check, an in-home interview with the family, and references. Additional screening procedures may be performed on a case-by-case basis.
  • A person other than the local Academic Coordinator double-checks the living conditions in the host family home.
  • All host families participate in a program orientation.
  • NWSE Academic Coordinators contact separately all exchange students and their host families at least once a month to help us monitor the students’ programs. They also contact schools at least twice per semester to keep track of the student’s academic performance and conduct at school.
  • NWSE also performs additional spot checks with students and host families to help ensure program success.
  • All NWSE exchange students arrive with health insurance that complies with program requirements.

“Every person I’ve met here in some way made me think better about myself. And this, I must say, is my biggest impression here. That anytime you talk to somebody –…

Arina from Russia

“Probably the biggest reward of being an exchange student was being hosted by an amazing family. I couldn’t imagine life without them anymore and I feel like I will be at…

Julia from Germany

“What I love the most about my exchange in America is my host family. I will definitely come back to America to see them and all my friends. The food, school,…

Sol from Spain

“[My host family and I] had directly a good connection to each other. I feel now I have another family in America… We had a great relationship with a lot…

Lisa from Germany
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