International Education Washington

Summit: Expanding Chinese Language Capacity

The Washington State Coalition for International Education held its International Education Leadership Summit: Expanding Chinese Language Capacity in Washington State on January 30, 2006 at the Rainier Club in Seattle. The event, attended by nearly 60 business and education leaders and a number of elected officials, explored the possibility of reaching a "tipping point" for interest in expanding Chinese language capacity in the U.S. and Washington State.

The inspiration for the focus this year came from the recent report published by the Asia Society: Expanding Chinese Language Capacity in the United States (PDF). We were delighted that Dr. Shuhan Wang, Supervisor for World Languages and International Education in Delaware and coauthor of this report, was a keynote presenter at the Summit events on January 30.

Since 2005, we have been working with the Prosperity Partnership to link this year's Summit to the larger theme of preparing our region for the new global economy. The Prosperity Partnership has identified education as a Foundation Initiative:

Education: Ensure a vibrant, well-educated and adaptable workforce with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Prosperous economies require a workforce that has the necessary skills, the ability to continue developing skills as technologies and markets change, and a commitment to performing high-quality work. Education and job-skill training prepare a region's populace for the world of work.

http://www.prosperitypartnership.org/foundation/index_archive.htm 7/26/2005

In addition, we have been following the work of Washington Learns, Governor Gregoire's initiative to examine our state's education system—from early learning to K–12 to higher education—and find ways to improve it.

Representatives from both the Prosperity Partnership and Washington Learns, as well as key business and education leaders, were present at the morning Leadership Summit.

Co-conveners of the Leadership Summit with the Coalition this year were the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, the Washington Council on International Trade, Associates in Cultural Exchange, and Alexander Hutton. Major funding for the International Education Leadership Summit was from a State Innovations Grant from Longview Foundation.

The Summit this year received special recognition from King County Executive Ron Sims. See King County Recognition (PDF).

Resources

Packet

Publications

Summit Report (published May, 2006)


Early Language Learning Program and Reception

The Summit activities continued in the afternoon at the Walker-Ames Room in Kane Hall at the University of Washington:

  • 4:00-7:00 pm Heritage Language Learning and Teaching featuring Dr. Shuhan Wang from Delaware and Betty Lau from Seattle with a panel of Chinese heritage teachers and students. For details, see Heritage Language Learning and Teaching.
     
  • 7:00-8:00 pm Reception and Resource Fair with the Washington State Coalition for International Education following the Heritage Language program. Everyone is welcome!

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