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Dr. Yong Zhao is an internationally known scholar, author, and speaker. His works focus on the implications of globalization and technology on education. He has designed schools that cultivate global competence ... and founded research and development institutions to explore innovative education models.

Dr. Yong Zhao is someone that each of us should learn more about and learn more from.He is also my recommendation for our 2013 conference keynote speaker.

Look on pages 25-26 for a brief description of a Danish folk high school course "Take the Future." In it, Mette Hojland describes how her class looks at a 'spiritual, individual, and global perspective'; she also talks about a rubric that she has for developing the sense of self-and it's not reductive!

Short Summary of The Global Achievement Gap "In his 2008 book, The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner discusses a variety of ways to improve education in the United States. At the heart of his thinking is the need for all schools to teach what he calls the "Seven Survival Skills", which have much in common with the thoughts of Friedman and Pink (who are both cited in his book)."

1. Critical thinking and problem solving 2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence 3. Agility and adaptability 4. Initiative and entrepreneurialism 5. Effective oral and written communication 6. Accessing and analyzing information 7. Curiosity and imagination

"In today's global economy, countries need high-quality education systems that will teach their citizens the skills necessary to meet the challenges of tomorrow. This series of videos, produced jointly by the OECD and the Pearson Foundation, highlights initiatives being taken by education authorities around the world to help school students do better."

Isn't just a Finnish Phenomenon. Pieces are happening Globally. What can Vermont suss out and glean from these?

Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group has identified what he calls a "global achievement gap," which is the leap between what even our best schools are teaching, and the must-have skills of the future:Critical thinking and problem-solvingCollaboration across networks and leading by influenceAgility and adaptabilityInitiative and entrepreneurialismEffective oral and written communicationAccessing and analyzing informationCuriosity and imagination

Shared this a couple of months ago...worth another look.

And we're thrilled to have Tony Wagner as the keynote for the Rowland Foundation's 2nd Annual Conference on School Transformation! You can preview The Global Achievement Gap here: http://books.google.com/books?ei=AWNyT-eMBOXe0gG5tsW9AQ&id=_4zBmOBP9uwC&dq=tony+wagner&q=personalization#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Rural Trust's Global Teacher Fellowship program will be awarding up to 25 fellowships in 2014 to support the professional and personal development of rural teachers. The awards (up to $5,000 for individual teachers and $10,000 for a team of two or more teachers) support teachers' participation in self-designed summer learning experiences and a two-day place-based learning institute in the fall following their summer experience. This fellowship is a stand-alone grant not meant to supplement other grant funds for larger projects. Teachers are encouraged to center their learning in an international travel and study experience, out of which they develop interdisciplinary, place-based learning curricula aligned with their specific state and local content standards.

There are a number of Rowland fellows that might be able to use this to supplement / expand their existing work.

Today's students adjust to rapid technological and social changes, navigate vast flows of information and learn to work collaboratively with diverse individuals and cultures in a global economy. Discover cognitive tools and teaching techniques to help them cultivate the skills and abilities required to succeed in the new millennium. - November 18, 2011 - November 20, 2011 at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel in Boston, MA

"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."

Article that makes me question how schools and classrooms are physically designed. This is a direct reflection of how we do what we do. Would you try to play tennis on a beach volleyball court? If we really are going to change the sport we need to change the venue too.

"A brand that stands for what all brands stand for stands for nothing much." At the first RF conference Peter McConville and Tom Sabo ran a really interesting activity where we looked at schools' mission statements from across Vermont. As a part of this activity they asked if individuals could recall their own. Not many (if any) could. It is too bad really. Coming from a corporate background myself, I understand the power of an organization having a common and driving statement of intent. To me what was striking, and unfortunate, was that it wouldn't be at all challenging to get fairly close if you just said something about students who strive to become life-long learners who are global citizens that give back to their community. Maybe it is just me, but I think that a mission statement should be as unique as the schools, communities, and individuals that are striving to fulfill that mission. It should be a mantra, a way to identify what is truly important to your school, a means of sharing your school's common sense of purpose, to communicate your school's common sense of direction to fulfill that purpose. My sense is that a mission statement should be the keystone for the very unique work that we do in our schools, it should be more akin to Dan Pink's My Sentence. But, read though most and you'll find that they seem interchangeable and ambiguous. I think that it may be better to not have one at all if it doesn't really share the message of what your individual school is about and what it specifically strives to be. Does your school's mission statement really share your school's mission?

Jason Thanks for posting this. Question - how do I copy this post over to another Diigo group I am working with? Jim

Mission statements are pretty generic... NEASC is moving away from asking schools for mission statements but instead for statements of core values and beliefs about learning in the hope of getting more school specific statements.

An animated highlight of John Seely Brown's Keynote Presentation, "Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Learner in the 21st Century," at the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference.

Via Alison Bromage, Vermont Adult Learning "Finland and South Korea top the charts in a new global education ranking. But with very different philosophies. We're looking at what the US - ranked number 17 - can learn."

LONDON - The global financial crisis has amplified the value of a good education, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "The people who really paid the price for the financial crisis are those without baseline qualifications," Andreas Schleicher, the O.E.C.D.'s deputy director for education and skills, said last week at a London news conference.

For the 21st Century, are our graduates "ready now", "ready soon", "work ready", or "far from ready" ? A new way to look at student outcomes, job preparedness, skills, and creativity in the years to come...

Keynote at ISTE 2012.  Here is a video of YongZhao's presentation.  He was a wonderful speaker, very engaging and funny, but with a clear and serious message.  There is about 15 minutes of intro stuff first, but you can fast forward that if you are short on time.  His talk is about an hour and well worth your time.

"The KED program is a concept for personalized education. This means that students, with the guidance of their coach, set and work towards their own personal goals, with the ambition of achieving high final results. Students allocate their study time based on their previous educational experience as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses."

"In Swedish, "Kunskapsskolan" means "the knowledge school." Our name is an expression of our passion for providing excellence in learning and knowledge for the next global generation."

"A continuous research and development program identifies correlations and possible common denominators for achieving excellence. In all these key areas - student outcome, student and parent satisfaction, teacher satisfaction and motivation, and financial performance..."