» State Departments of Education- U.S. (N-W)
It is assumed that the Canadians have been influenced by NCLB, also. If one were inclined to track this movement back, probably it could be determined that an over- reliance on minimal outcome measurements came from two sources: (1) the Thatcher reforms in U.K. education in the late 80’s and (2) the libertarian economic policies spawned at the University of Chicago in the U.S. and carried forward by the subsequent emergence of neo-right wing politics in the 90s in both nations. Unfortunately, one outcome of this movement has been to limit the ability of states, provinces and territories, school districts and schools to implement badly needed global and/or international education programs for the children and youth of North America.
In this environment, three kinds of responses were received from departments and ministries of education, as follows:
1. No response (10 states, 2 provinces and territories).
2. Responses that indicated that standards (with associated assessment), while mostly focused upon national studies, do include some global/international education content. In addition, they often have web links with global/international education content; and they support the training of teachers in the use of instructional technology (6 states). This is referred to below as the “standard” response (no pun intended).
3. Responses that, in addition to what is stated in #2 above, describe additional department global/ international education initiatives (34 states, 11 provinces and territories). These, of course, are of most interest to global/international educators and offer some guidance for state departments and ministries that would like to encourage more of a global perspective in the schools of their states.
+ - Nebraska
+ - Nevada
+ - New Hampshire
+ - New Jersey
+ - New Mexico
+ - New York
+ - North Carolina
1. Engage business, community, professional groups, and other state agencies in support of international education.
2 Develop a model for coordinating professional development in global awareness and international understanding.
3. Promote international education, including the support of learning foreign languages and in-depth knowledge of other cultures.
4. Survey the existing talents and resources within the state and assess needs.
5. Influence policy makers in embracing greater emphasis on international understanding in the K-12 curriculum.
The Department has signed a Memorandum with the Spanish Government and the Visiting International Faculty Program (VIF) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to bring teachers from many different countries to teach in North Carolina. The Department supports the work of the North Carolina Center for International Understanding which provides a variety of experiential learning opportunities for North Carolina policy leaders, K-12 educators and citizens. The state of North Carolina was the recipient of the 2004 Goldman Sachs Prize for International Education in the State Category.
+ - North Dakota
+ - Ohio
+ - Oklahoma
+ - Oregon
+ - Pennsylvania
+ - Rhode Island
+ - South Carolina
+ - South Dakota
+ - Tennessee
+ - Texas
+ - Utah
+ - Vermont
+ - Virginia
1. World Net: Virginia Study Seminars offer teachers and administrators opportunities for professional development through study seminars in selected foreign countries., including Germany, Israel, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Peru, and Russia.
2. Geography Connects is a free, interactive online course for Virginia teachers which supports the World History Standards.
3. The Virginia Center for the Teaching of International Studies is a partnership of the Virginia Department of Education, the Greater Richmond World Affairs Council, Virginia Commonwealth University, and several other organizations. The Center is committed to teaching current international issues to Virginia’s middle and high school teachers.
4. Virginia participates in the Teaching East Asia Grant that provides teachers with instruction and resources on East Asia. The Department supplements the resources.
5. The Department sponsors a teacher exchange program with Japan, student travel programs in Russia and Peru, and the Visiting Faculty Program (VIF) which brings highly qualified educators to teach for from one to three years.
+ - Washington
+ - West Virginia
+ - Wisconsin
1. Since 1990, the DPI has had an International Education Consultant to work with a variety of teacher international exchanges, curriculum and professional development in global studies, and coordination with other agencies interested in global education as well as other State education consultants (e.g., World Languages, Bicultural/Bilingual Education, Agriculture Education).
2. Descriptions and contact information for more than 50 organizations involved with international education are included in the DPI’s list of resources in its curriculum guide. The guide also identifies more than 30 model programs in international education.
3. Teacher exchange programs are sponsored with Germany, Japan, Laos and Thailand. Teacher and student exchanges are carried out with Puerto Rico.
4. Major emphasis has been put upon increasing both the quantity and quality of World Language instruction in Wisconsin schools, including the promotion of language instruction at the elementary school level. The DPI also supports a number of foreign language immersion and magnet school programs.
5. The DPI, working with a number of other agencies, co-sponsors workshops and summer institutes dedicated to increasing global literacy.
6. The DPI frequently produces and distributes publications focused upon global/international education.
7. The Department has its own International Education Home Page.
8. The State Superintendent of Education, Elizabeth Burmaster, has spoken quite eloquently at a number of venues on the importance of the topic Internationalizing Our Schools. The texts of many of these presentations can be downloaded at the Home Page cited in #7 above.
9. The DPI sponsors a listserv for people interested in global/international education (firstname.lastname@example.org) in Wisconsin and beyond, that announces travel, in-service, publication, and a variety of other opportunities that can further the goal of globalizing the curriculum of schools.
+ - Wyoming