What Can You Do?

Specific ideas on becoming involved in the current competitiveness conversation include:

-- Write to your Senator or Congressman asking them to support foreign languages and international knowledge and skills in the new competitiveness legislation.

--Contact your state Department of Education to find out what STEM related initiatives are proposed and if they integrate international education.

--If you live near a regional NASA center, contact them to ask when they will hold a Future's Panel to discuss STEM.

Global Competitiveness

ON THIS PAGE Overview Reports and Papers National and state legislation Speeches (Federal, State and Business) Latest News Tools to help you become involved

NEW: Vivien Stewart Presentation on New Global Skills Asia-Pacific Forum on Secondary Education Release of the latest PISA results

Overview

Despite America’s status as an economic, military and cultural superpower, our students lack the understanding of the world they will need to maintain a vital leadership role in the 21st century.  Business and military leaders recognize the dramatic shift in the skills young people now require and are sounding the alarm that US schools must be modernized with great urgency to prepare students to compete in the global economy, exercise responsible citizenship,  to secure our homeland, and improve international relations.What are the global competencies our graduates will need to be successful in this new environment?  The new skill set will need to go well beyond the nation’s current focus on the basics and the growing emphasis on math, science and technology skills.  While understanding that these skills are necessary, to be successful global citizens, workers, and leaders in this new age, our students will need:

• Knowledge of other world regions, cultures and global/international issues
• Skills in communicating in languages other than English, working in cross-cultural environments, and using information from different sources around the world
• Values of respect  for other cultures and  of civic engagement

Reports and Papers

National/International

PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World

International Education and Foreign Languages: Keys to America's Future

Tough Choices or Tough Times, Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, National Center on Education and the Economy (2006)

Rising Above the Gathering Storm, National Academy of Sciences (2006)

Innovation America: A Partnership, National Governors Association (2007)

Education for Global Leadership, Committee for Economic Development (2006)

Tapping America's Potential, The Education for Innovation Initiative

Effects on the European Union Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise, National Center for Languages (EU) (2007)

Virtual Schools and 21st Century Skills, North American Council for Online Learning

Closing the Expectations Gap 2006, Achieve, Inc. [Ohio STEM page]

State

Creating a World-Class Education System in Ohio, Achieve, Inc.

Asia Society's Newsletter: Special Edition on Competitiveness

Tools To Help

*The Committee for Economic Development report, Education for Global Leadership, makes specific suggestions on what leaders in business, policymakers, and K-12 and higher education can do to support the integration of international knowledge and skills into the conversation on competitiveness. If you a business leader, CED is currently seeking people to endorse their Educating Leaders report.

*Asia Society created an online tool kit to help you get started in spreading the word on international education. Click to visit and gather ideas.

*The Council of Chief State School Officers recently released a Global Education Policy statement that you can use to support Department of Education initiatives in your state.

Current Legislation on Competitiveness

Federal Legislation

PASSED!: America COMPETES Act | Read More l 2007
Signed into law by President Bush in August 2007. 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. The legislation only authorizes new spending.  Appropriations are still being debated.

PASSED! College Cost Reduction Act | House Bill 2007
This is bill will give TEACH grants of $4000 per year to undergraduate and graduate students who agree to teach foreign languages.

PASSED! Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Act | House & Senate Bills 2007
Legislation to ensure that all U.S. college students have the opportunity to study abroad, with emphasis on creating opportunities for students from all socio-economic, ethnic, and academic backgrounds, and on significantly expanding educational travel to nontraditional destinations, particularly in the developing world. 

Homeland Security Education Act | Senate Bill 2007
This is a "bill to strengthen national security by encouraging and assisting in the expansion and improvement of educational programs in order to meet critical needs at the elementary, secondary, and higher education levels, and for other purposes." 

Teaching Geography is Fundamental | House Bill 2007
To improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 12 students in the United States by improving professional development programs for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers offered through institutions of higher education.

American Competitiveness Initiative | Presidential Initiative
President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative aims to strengthen innovation and education in the U.S. by improving math and science education, foreign language studies, and high schools.

National Security Language Initiative | Presidential Initiative
Introduced in 2006, this initiative includes a $114 million grouping of federal initiatives intended to address the nation's needs for foreign language speakers. 

National Foreign Language Coordination Act | Senate Bill 2007
The bill calls for a new position in the executive branch charged with assessing and addressing language needs.

State legislation, Initiatives, and Governor's resolutions

Arizona | House Bill
This Bill, introduced in February 2007, proposes grants to start pilot schools of international studies, K-12.

Florida | Legislation
This bill would require the Board of Education to revamp Florida's state education standards. Included would be increased foreign language requirements.

Minnesota | Governors Initiative
Governor Pawlenty's World-Class Students initiative to create a system of education for the 21st Century. Proposed 4 credits of a world language for high school graduation.

North Carolina | Legislative Declaration
Endorsement of a set of core educational principles to integrate a globally competitive technology curriculum in North Carolina schools as state legislators unveiled of The NCTA Declaration of the 21st Century Student.

Ohio | Governor's Initiative
Ohio Core is core curriculum that includes a foreign language requirement (being reviewed by the Ohio Foreign Language Education Council). [Ohio STEM page]

Texas | State Initiative
Texas High School Project is sponsoring these 35 STEM academies to increase student achievement by engaging and exposing students to innovative science and math instruction and incorporating work-based, contextual learning with a global perspective into the curriculum.

Speeches

Federal

State of the Union, 2007, President Bush

Secretary Spellings Testimony Before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education (March 2007)

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Lost in Translation: A Review of the Federal Government's Efforts to Develop a Foreign Language Strategy (February 2007)

President Bush, Discusses the American Competitiveness Initiative at Tuskegee University (2006)

Secretary Spellings, Remarks at the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education (announcing National Security Language Initiative)

State

Arizona 2007 State of the State Address, Governor Napolitano

Minnesota 2007 State of the State Address, Governor Pawlenty

West Virginia 2007 State of the State Address, Governor Manchin

Business

Bill Gates: U.S. Senate Committee Hearing on Strengthening American Competitiveness

Latest News

America Scouts Overseas to Boost Education Skills
(Education Week, April 23, 2008) | full story
Excerpt: "Ohio is ahead of most states in efforts to benchmark its performance against that of high-performing countries, although it has met hurdles in doing so. Yet a growing number of education and policy groups suggest that such cross-nation comparisons are essential."

U.S. Educators Seek Lessons from Scandinavia
(eSchoolNewsl, March 3, 2008) | full story
Excerpt: "A delegation led by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) recently toured Scandinavia in search of answers for how students in that region of the world were able to score so high on a recent international test of math and science skills. They found that educators in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark all cited autonomy, project-based learning, and nationwide broadband internet access as keys to their success."

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?
(Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2008) | full story
Excerpt: "The academic prowess of Finland's students has lured educators from more than 50 countries in recent years to learn the country's secret, including an official from the U.S. Department of Education. What they find is simple but not easy: well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early on, kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons to fit their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the thing Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal."

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