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| State
Spotlight: New Jersey Legislation |
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The New Jersey General Assembly passed a resolution in March
2005 "encouraging students, teachers, administrators, and
educational policy makers to promote and participate in international
education activities that enhance civic education, advance
cultural/cross-cultural awareness, lead to communicative competence
in world languages, further literacy/multi-literacy, and poromote
mutual understanding and respect for citizens of other countries."
Click on the New Jersey logo to read the entire resolution.
New
Jersey Legislation »
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| IE
News Views and Policy Reports |
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A new policy report, Putting the World into Our Classrooms:
A New Vision for 21st Century Classrooms by Michael H.
Levine, Executive Director, Education, Asia Society, is now
featured on the website of the Progressive Policy Institute.
This paper looks at the current status of international education
and recommends four steps policymakers can take to ensure
future students are taught essential international knowledge
and skills. A print version should be released soon. To read
the entire article, please click on the PPI logo.
The April 20 issue of Education Week featured a
front page article on the status of international education
in the United States. Leaders in our states network in North
Carolina and Kansas as well as members of the National Coalition
on Asia and International Studies were featured in the story.
While the recognition of our work was welcome and positive
examples of momentum in states were cited, the story led
by citing examples that IE is still seen as a "hard sell,"
with slow progress expected, even by advocates. To help
state leaders frame their significant accomplishments in
a more positive manner, Asia Society will be developing
a message memo and a fact sheet to share in press outreach
which will be available in June. The media action kit will
draw heavily from research conducted by Frameworks Institute
and Public Knowledge (see http://internationaled.org/bales&sparks.htm
for previously developed background research and message
framing). To read the entire Ed Week article, visit
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/04/20/32intern ational.h24.html
Education Week also held a live chat with Barbara
Chow, Vice President, National Geographic Society's Education
Foundation on April 27 to further discuss the state of IE.
The chat focused on integrating international education
and geography into the classroom. To read a transcript visit:
http://www.edweek.org/chat/
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| PEARL
World Youth News |
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iEARN-USA and the Daniel Pearl Foundation have established
an Internet-based international student-run news service.
With the assistance of the New York Times and Columbia
University's Graduate School of Journalism, students around
the world can become certified PEARL reporters and help promote
cross- cultural understanding through balanced, objective
journalism with a global youth perspective.
Student reporters and editors will work together using
online forums to make decisions on what to report on, collaborate
on research and interviews, and edit articles. The program
is free and the only requirement is that students be proficient
in English. For more information, visit the iEARN website
at: www.iearn.org/pearlproject/index.html
PEARL
Project »
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| Grant
Opportunity: Smaller Learning Communities |
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The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and
Adult Education officially announced the regular competition
for its Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) Competition in
the Thursday, April 28, 2005 Federal Register. These grants
fund projects to create or expand small learning communities
in large public high schools. The deadline for transmittal
of applications is June 7, 2005. For more information on the
competition, please click the link below.
Asia Society will be holding a teleconference on Tuesday,
May 10, 2005 at 12:00pm EST to assist local educational
agencies (LEA) in your state in applying for this grant.
The teleconference will focus on how LEAs can potentially
use SLC grants to develop internationally themed small learning
communities. Asia Society is able to offer the LEAs ongoing
support and technical assistance not only throughout the
application process, but also during the implementation
phase of the grant once the smaller learning communities
have been established. If you would like to participate,
please send an email to Deborah Agrin at dagrin@asiasoc.org
with your name, organization, and contact information.
U.S.
DOE RFP »
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| Chinese
Language Leaders Gather at Asia Society |
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In 2003, The College Board announced the creation of a new Advanced
Placement Course and Exam on Chinese (Mandarin) Language and Culture.
Development of this program is underway and the course will be
available to schools nationwide in the 2006-2007 school year.
This initiative reflects not only the recognition of China's growing
economic and political significance on the world stage, but also
a growing interest among schools and students in Chinese. Yet
in the United States today, most schools lack the capacity to
provide Chinese language instruction.
To discuss strategies to build on such capacity,
Asia Society convened a small meeting in early April of Chinese
language teachers, representatives of the College Board, funding
agencies, heritage language associations, and other experts.
The meeting addressed the critical steps needed to build capacity
in the field to help students attain language proficiency, and
the key investments needed in school programs, teacher training,
and other areas to help meet an initial goal of having 5% of
high school students studying Chinese by 2015. A report on the
meeting will be available later this spring. |
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