After being in the United States for just one week, a Syrian girl joined a fourth grade class at Pittsburgh’s Concord K-5 last year.

The girl’s teacher gave her an assignment matching blocks to rectangles — the same grade level content that other students would receive, only presented differently.

When the girl completed the lesson successfully, her teacher celebrated her, said Jamie Kinzel-Nath, Concord’s principal. That sort of lesson based on an individual child’s needs has become the standard at Concord, which has students from 22 countries who speak 11 languages.

“When kids feel welcomed, safe and seen, they engage and they learn,” Ms. Kinzel-Nath said Tuesday morning at A+ Schools release of its annual Report to the Community.

The 2025 report from A+ Schools highlighted the growi

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