March 19, 2003 3:00-5:00 pm
Seattle Central Community College Board Room
1. Introductions (Cynthia Rekdal)
Introduce Joan Yoshitomi, Mary Ryan Taras, and state team. Objectives for this meeting:
- Provide info on States Institute on International Education
- Discuss Washington State initiatives
- Begin Formation of a state-wide P-20 Coalition on International Education
Hand out participants list plus contact sheets. Go around the room for self-introductions.
2. States Institute on International Education (Mary Ryan Taras, Asia Society)
Background on Asia Society, which was founded by the Rockefellers with a goal of helping Americans learn more about Asia.
Task Force on Asia in the Schools issued its report in 2001 and began to talk about the urgency for international understanding for young people. Currently, there is a lack of information, although Asia is a focus of economic and security interest for the U.S. The Commission called on policymakers to make learning about Asia a priority and offer ongoing professional development, involve business leaders, etc.
Among the charges was the formation of the National Coalition on Asia and International Studies in the Schools. They offered the States Institute on International Education last fall. Teams came from 21 states. Very exciting institute; people were energized. States set goals for themselves. Some states had governor-led task forces, state education leadership, etc. Common thread was to make it happen in policy and practice.
Lots of things suggested:
- Surveys, audits: Find out what’s happening. (Schools are doing things but don’t broadcast it.)
- Stakeholder meetings, coalition building.
- Partnerships with higher ed.
The Asia Society is committed long-term. For now, we need to get some things started, despite stresses of current budget constraints.
3. Washington State’s Involvement (Joan Yoshitomi, OSPI)
Overview of how the group came together. In early September, Gov. Locke met with former Gov. Jim Hunt (of North Carolina) and Supt. Terry Bergeson met Gov. Hunt at another conference. Gov. Hunt insisted that Washington State should become involved. Despite uncertainties about including this (given the budget issues), Joan met with someone from the Governor’s office to bring a small group together to go to the States Institute. The State Team came back very excited by Washington, DC. So, we decided to go forward and pull together a larger group – focus group – to see what your thinking is and where the Governor and Supt. should focus their attention.
4. Report from States Institute Conference (Will Linser, State Team)
See Presentation at WA State Council for
the Social Studies Leadership Retreat Chelan, WA March 7, 2003 by
Will Linser
(pdf file opens in new window or open PPT version)
The States Institute had a mixture of discussion, small groups, major presentations, and times to meet with other states to see how they’re doing. Some states are doing quite well (e.g., Wisconsin, Michigan) – we could learn from them.
The Institute was held during International Ed week. There were lots of surveys coming out, e.g., National Geographic Survey on Geography (U.S. was last before Mexico). Much needs to be done to remedy this situation.
International exchange has an important role, as do school-to-school connections, etc. Teachers are key to this. Higher Ed partnerships are critical. We need to get info out to the teachers, then they can take initiative. There were also sessions on how to finance International Ed.
We came back really energized from the States Institute. Hopefully we can continue that momentum.
5. Grant from Asia Society (Mary Ryan Taras)
The Asia Society asked states, including Washington, to write grant proposals. Pleased to announce that the Washington State Team will be awarded a grant of $10,000 to help with staging a P-20 International Education Summit on September 18 at the University of Washington.
6. International Education Washington web site (Michele Anciaux Aoki)
We've launched a web site to help support the building of our State Coalition. It is hosted (free-of-charge) on the Seattle Community Network: www.scn.org/internationaledwa/
Hand out print-outs of Resources and News & Events pages.
7. Defining International Education P-20 (Michele Anciaux Aoki/ Will Linser)
All the attendees participated in contributing their perspectives on how to define International Education. See What Is International Education P-20?
8. Forming a Coalition: Who Should be Involved? (Cynthia Rekdal)
Which groups or organizations do we need to contact next? (Suggestions from the participants)
- Native American Daybreak Start
- One World Now
- Teachers without Borders
- Densho
- VSA Very Special Arts
- Teachers – Washington State Council of Teachers of S.S., English, School Districts,
- WEA
- WSSDA
- State Board of Education
- King Street Productions (Jay Koe)
- Teachers – in conversation at the beginning
- Heritage Language Schools
- Wing Luke Museum
- Nordic Heritage Museum
- Sons of Norway
- El Centro de la Raza
- Digital Partners
- Pacific Village Institute
- Arts Corps - Lisa Fitzhugh
- Washington State Geographic Alliance
- Corporations in business community (esp. for funding, what do they expect from students)
- Foundations
- Alliance for Education
- Port of Seattle
- Washington Alternative Learning Association
9. Forming a Coalition: Next Steps? (Toshi Moriguchi)
One thing I learned at the States Institute is that “No child left behind” handcuffs the public school teachers. One thing we can do is to help teachers integrate international education into everything they already have to do. We need to get that idea across to teachers.
How can we do all this? No one has money. We're not trying to form a dues-paying organization.
What do we want to do? Duplicate what they did for us at Washington, D.C., for example, breakout sessions with experts in each area. Then meet as a team. The grant will make it possible to put on the Summit in September.
We need more teachers involved at the grassroots level. How can we fund some release time for teachers? Maybe on a matching basis. Make sure they’ll go back as teacher trainer. We need to connect with parents who have an interest in giving children international opportunities.
What does success look like? Awareness of what’s out there as resources and how to achieve policy change over time.
10. Future Meetings (Toshi Moriguchi)
Does this group want to continue this conversation? See what’s happening? Broaden the group?
Consensus was yes… in late April, beginning of May.