Asia Society's monthly digest of news and events in K-12 international education. September 2007
We hope you had a wonderful summer! As the new
school year begins, please feel free to share
international education events and stories that would
be of interest to leaders and educators throughout the
country. Email them to: hsingmaster@asiasociety.org
Signed into law by President Bush in August, the
America Competes legislation is based on
recommendations from the "Rising Above the
Gathering Storm" report as well as competitiveness
legislation introduced in 2006. This law provides
incentives for teachers of STEM subjects and critical
foreign languages and also authorizes the Secretary
of Education to award competitive grants to states to
promote better alignment of elementary and
secondary education with the knowledge and skills
needed to succeed in the 21st Century workforce. A
competitive grant program to increase the number of
students studying critical foreign languages starting
in elementary school and continuing through
postsecondary education programs, is also included.
The Edison School District in New Jersey announced
a partnership with the International Education and
Resource Network (iEARN) to enhance its existing
language programs to include Hindi as an option for
students in the district. The project will link New Jersey
students with those in India through iEARN-India's
network of over 400 schools throughout India. As part
of the preparation for this project, iEARN staff in both
the U.S. and India will work with the Hindi curriculum
developers to integrate authentic collaborative online
work.
PDK/Gallup Poll Features International Education Questions
The September 2007 issue of the Phi Delta
Kappan Journal features the 39th annual poll of
the public's attitudes toward the public schools. This
year's poll features three questions on International
Education. Results show that more than half of the
respondents believe students should spend more
time on international study. Other questions address
the importance of learning a second language: 85%
believe it is important and 70% believe it should begin
in elementary school. Click below for more.
Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad: The
Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program
supports overseas projects in training, research, and
curriculum development in modern foreign languages
and area studies for groups of teacher, students, and
faculty. Deadline is October 4. For more information
click
here
2008 Global Action Awards: The NetAid Global
Action Awards honor U.S. high school students who
have led a project that had a direct, positive impact on
people in developing countries or that raised
awareness about global poverty. Deadline is January
31, 2008. For more information click
here
2007 Call for Applications: Goldman Sachs Prizes
The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Asia Society are
seeking applications for the 2007 Prizes for
Excellence in International Education. The prize
program was created in 2003 to raise awareness of
the growing importance of international knowledge
and skills for U.S. students and annually awards
prizes totaling $150,000 in five different categories.
We are pleased to announce that this year we are
expanding our State category to also include the 100
largest school districts.
Applications for the elementary/middle school, high
school, district/state, and media/technology prizes are
due Monday, December 3, 2007. For more
information and to access the online application, click
below.
Hear from the 2006 prizewinners! Click
here
to listen to audio interviews with each of the winners.
