Group items tagged

"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."

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).

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.

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!

It appears that we are not the only group having this conversation. Here is an article that parallels our own. (It is actually eerily similar in its stream of thought.)

"...it's easy to see why students are disengaged from the learning tasks that we give them. The big question is whether we care. So far, most of our school systems don't seem too bothered by their environmental deficiencies when it comes to fostering internal motivation. Our actions put the lie to our school mission statements that state that we're about creating 'self-motivated, life-long learners.'" "As school leaders and classroom teachers, how long can we continue to ignore core principles of intrinsic motivation?"

I could not agree more and this is a critical topic for the independent schools with which I work.

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

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.

"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.' "

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."

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.