Washington State Coalition for International Education
January 22, 2004 4:00-5:00 pm
This was our first-time cross-state meeting using video conferencing.
Spokane Location
hosted by Sonja Hokanson at Intercollegiate College of
Nursing
Washington State University College Of Nursing
http://www.icne.wsu.edu/spokane/index.asp
2917 West Fort George Wright Drive
Spokane, WA 99224-5291
From Downtown Spokane: Take Monroe Street or Washington Street to Indiana. Indiana turns into Northwest Blvd. at the intersections of Monroe, Indiana and Northwest Blvd. Go one block past the intersection and turn left on Shannon. Turn right on to Northwest Blvd. going northwest to T. J. Meenach Drive (the second light past Maple). Turn left on T. J. Meenach Drive. Go down the hill and over the bridge. The Intercollegiate College of Nursing is located at the first drive on the left just past the first curve. There is a large sign out front at the beginning of the driveway.
Seattle Location
hosted by Jay Munson and Paul Aoki at the UW Language
Learning Center
http://depts.washington.edu/llc/
Denny Hall Room 109
From I-5: Take NE 45th Street exit from I-5, and head east on 45th. Turn
right into campus at 17th Ave NE. Denny Hall is first (old) building on
your left.
Agenda
- Update on State Social Studies Standards & Assessments (Caleb Perkins, OSPI in Spokane)
- Update on World Languages and WAFLT March 20 conference plans (Sonja Hokanson, WAFLT in Spokane)
- Highlights of States Institute 2003 (member of State Team in Seattle)
- iEARN grant for professional development support (Kristi Rennebohm Franz)
- Coalition Plans and Updates for 2004 (Steering Committee member,
Seattle)
- Apply for State Innovations Grant from Asia Society by Feb 9 (Michele Anciaux Aoki in Seattle)
- Next International Ed Summit -- Olympia in October with NAFSA (David Woodward, ACE in Seattle) - New business (Masaru Kibukawa, Steering Committee Chair in
Seattle)
- Next Coalition meeting: April 1, 2004
Summary
Social Studies Standards & Assessments
Caleb shared exciting news about Classroom-Based Assessment (CBAs)
that Social Studies is developing as an alternative to traditional WASL-type
pencil-and-paper assessments. Examples can be downloaded from the OSPI
website:
http://www.k12.wa.us/curriculuminstruct/SocStudies/CBAs.aspx.
These provide a "shell" for content that could be drawn from global
perspectives. OSPI is looking for groups to pilot the CBAs and develop
materials. (Already 105 teachers have expressed interest, representing
50 districts and about 3300 students.)
The Social Studies Frameworks are also being updated. See:
http://www.k12.wa.us/curriculuminstruct/SocStudies/frameworks.aspx.
These provide recommended social studies benchmarks and instructional
guidelines for individual school districts to help students meet the
Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs).
For more information about the CBAs or Frameworks, contact Caleb Perkins.
World Languages
Sonja reported on plans for the upcoming conference on World Languages:
March 20, 2004 WAFLT Spring Conference at PLU
To celebrate Washington Association For Language Teaching's 40th anniversary, the theme is "WAFLT - 40 Years of Connecting Through Languages." For more information, contact chair Bridget Yaden yadenlbe@plu.edu or visit http://www.waflt.net/conferences.html.
WAFLT is also proposing to do a state-wide survey to evaluate the current status of World Languages in Washington schools (who's teaching what, where, when, how, and to whom?). [Note: Michele suggested working with Asia Society, which is offering technical support to states interested in doing online surveys. Online surveys (e.g., through Survey Monkey, are very cheap -- and the data get collected in a database).]
WAFLT is also interested in working with OSPI to introduce voluntary standards for World Languages. [Note: For sample standards from other states, see:
- Nebraska K-12 Foreign Language Frameworks
http://www.nde.state.ne.us/FORLG/Frameworks/Frameworks.pdf
- New Jersey World Languages Curriculum Framework http://www.state.nj.us/njded/frameworks/worldlanguages/ ]
Sonja also suggested connecting up with the PNCFL -- Pacific NW Council For Languages, a regional organization for languages.
For more information about World Languages, contact Sonja Hokanson, President of WAFLT.
States Institute 2003
For a summary, see 2003 States Institute Report (PDF file opens in new window).
iEARN's Friendship Through Education Project
The Friendship Through Education (FTE) Consortium, with leadership by iEARN-USA, has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education to create professional development demonstration projects through which U.S. schools can internationalize their curricula as a way to enhance global learning and understanding in a context of educational goals that are aligned with state and national educational standards. In these projects, students and teachers in the U.S., and schools throughout the world, will utilize the Internet and other new technologies to demonstrate how international education can be integrated into K-12 classrooms.
See the article: Friendship Through Education Project and complete the Online Application to participate. (Deadline February 10, 2004)