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"Lately, there has been more discussion over what is meant by a world class education system. Last week the US Department of Education put out its white paper on international education strategy entitled, Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement, and in 2012 several books on the topic were published. ... I thought I would synthesize the key concepts of these books in order to formulate policy design principles for Vermont as we begin to think about transforming our current educational system into a world class system."

"Ever since Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million that does not start formal education until age 7 and scorns homework and testing until well into the teenage years, scored at the top of a well-respected international test in 2001 in math, science and reading, it has been an object of fascination among American educators and policy makers."

"Critics say that Finland is an irrelevant laboratory for the United States. It has a tiny economy, a low poverty rate, a homogenous population - 5 percent are foreign-born -..." Perhaps irrelevant for the US as a whole, but what about for Vermont?

"Dr. Darling-Hammond said. 'Thirty years ago, Finland's education system was a mess. It was quite mediocre, very inequitable. It had a lot of features our system has: very top-down testing, extensive tracking, highly variable teachers, and they managed to reboot the whole system.' "

What if we treated foreign language in America the way we treat sports. It is not unusual to see kids in high school spending two hours after school, every day, in football or basketball practice.

PARIS -...The test does not evaluate the most relevant of students' capabilities, many critics say.

Here's a tool I've been using with my CSS Professional Development classes. It's taken from the International Center for Leadership in Education. You can find a more colorful version on their site (http://www.leadered.com/rrr.html).

Many American students may say that they would like to go overseas. But according to the Institute of International Education, only 1 percent of U.S. students study abroad during any academic year.

Really interesting Jill. Thanks!

ISTE - International Society for Technology in Education ... ISTE 2012, "Expanding Horizons," will be held June 24 through 27, 2012, at the San Diego Convention.

Mentioned by Lauren Parren & Karen Budde in Ning. Check in with them through Ning if you are interested!

http://www.classroom20.com/events/socialedcon-2012 SocialEdCon is the fifth all-day unconference held the Saturday before ISTE, and it's a great event for beginners and regular attenders alike! Come join us for an amazing community experience filled with interesting conversations in a highly social environment. SocialEdCon is free (thanks to the amazing generosity of ISTE). There is no formal signup, but for planning purposes and connecting with others, it's helpful to have you indicate your attendance here. SocialEdCon is part of a series of community events at ISTE.

This month, the European Association for International Education adopted a charter that said: "National student loans and grants should always be portable. Students on grants that cover tuition and expenses while studying abroad should be provided with safeguards against arbitrary withdrawal of their funding."