Carol J. Carter

Carol’s Summary:

There’s more dismal news for America’s schools as international benchmarks show the U.S. lagging behind its global counterparts. According to the New York Times article below, “a greater proportion of students in more and more countries graduate from high school and college and score higher on achievement tests than students in the United States.” In yesterday’s address to a panel of U.S. policy lawmakers who plan to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - the main law governing federal policy on public schools - Andreas Schleicher, a senior education official at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD, and one of the foremost experts on comparing national school systems in the world’s 30 richest countries, presented these facts to the Senate education committee:

• Canada’s 15-year-old students are, on average, more than one school year ahead of American 15-year-olds
• Finland has the world’s “best performing education system,” partly because of its highly effective way of recruiting, training and supporting teachers.
• Only New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and Mexico now have lower high school completion rates than the U.S (about 7 in 10 American high school students earn a diploma).
• South Korea has achieved a 96 percent high school graduation rate, the world’s highest.
• Poland, Mr. Schleicher said, is improving its education system most rapidly. In less than a decade, it raised the literacy skills of its 15-year-olds by the equivalent of almost a school year. “If the U.S. would raise the performance of schools by a similar amount,” he said, “that could translate into a long-term economic value of over 40 trillion dollars.”

The committee also heard from Charles Butt, chief executive of a supermarket chain in Texas, who said employers there faced increasing difficulties in hiring qualified young workers. “The blame for America’s sagging academic achievement does not lie solely with public schools,” Mr. Butt said, but also with dysfunctional families and a culture that undervalues education. Schools are inheriting an overentertained, distracted student,” he said.

LifeBound’s comprehensive approach to helping students achieve college and career success includes programs for parents that help them value education and give them the tools to communicate this to their children. Additionally, we offer books and curriculum for Summer Academies and year-long programs in districts across the country that help students grow their critical and creative thinking skills and develop emotional and social intelligence. Until districts adopt a rigorous model of learning that challenges students to think and plan for future success, we will continue to lose ground in education and ultimately our competitive edge in the world’s marketplace.

How can districts create new standards and curriculum that help American students catch up to their global counterparts?

How can we instill a sense of what is possible into the hearts and minds of our students?

How can we transform our nation’s entertainment culture into a culture of learning?

Article

New York Times
Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education, Expert Says
By SAM DILLON
March 9, 2010

One of the world’s foremost experts on comparing national school systems told lawmakers on Tuesday that many other countries were surpassing the United States in educational attainment, including Canada, where he said 15-year-old students were, on average, more than one school year ahead of American 15-year-olds.

America’s education advantage, unrivaled in the years after World War II, is eroding quickly as a greater proportion of students in more and more countries graduate from high school and college and score higher on achievement tests than students in the United States, said Andreas Schleicher, a senior education official at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, which helps coordinate policies for 30 of the world’s richest countries.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Many American colleges and universities have longtime connections to aid work in Haiti and since the devastating earthquake earlier this week, are providing financial assistance and on the ground emergency relief. As the article below cites, “The largest effort to put teams of university doctors on the ground has come from the University of Miami, which began sending medical professionals to Haiti the day after the earthquake.” Because of its proximity to Haiti, Miami has dispatched several flights each day back and forth, transporting doctors and supplies to Port-au-Prince and bringing severely injured patients to Miami hospitals.

The program director for emergency and disaster management and homeland security at American Military University, Christopher M. Reynolds, said, “I knew of more than a dozen students and faculty members in Haiti, doing such work as logistics operations and search-and-rescue missions through the military. The university’s students get course extensions on the basis of their deployment papers.” Similarly, Wallace E. Boston Jr., president of the parent American Public University system, wrote the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pledge their support. He launched an e-mail to more than 1,000 students and alumni informing them that he was creating a list where people can submit their skills and availability to FEMA. Dr. Kurt K. Rhynhart, a general surgeon at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said in an e-mail message from Haiti, “I have never seen so much poverty and am humbled by it,” “But the people are the most friendly, proud, and thankful I have ever met. I am certainly glad I came and am sure this won’t be the last time.”

Disasters like this are strong reminders that we live in a global world. As educators, we play a key role in helping students envision the difference they can make as future professionals. Students tend to be more motivated and engaged in the classroom when they understand how education connects to careers and perhaps more importantly, why we work. While everyone needs a job to support themselves and their families, it’s the ability to use our gifts and talents to help other people that give real meaning to college and career success. Let’s champion our students to do and be their best. There’s a big world out there that needs them.

ARTICLE:

The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 21, 2010
American Universities Rush to the Front Lines in Haiti
By Andrea Fuller

Brian W. Loggie, a professor of surgery at the Creighton University School of Medicine, has gotten little sleep in the past week.

Days after a devastating magnitude-7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti, Dr. Loggie and several of his colleagues arrived at a medical facility in the Dominican Republic, 30 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Since then, they have been operating on victims and trying to manage the flow of the hundreds of people overwhelming the facility.

“What we’ve been seeing are just many, many, many patients, a lot of orthopedic injuries, a lot of open fractures that are infected,” Dr. Loggie said in a telephone interview. “We’re seeing so many amputations.”

There are dozens more doctors like Dr. Loggie spread across Port-au-Prince and nearby towns, performing surgeries in makeshift hospitals and calming frantic patients. While many American colleges are providing financial assistance to Haiti, some, like Creighton, have sent teams of nurses and surgeons.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

The paideia teaching model still survives today in Cincinnati, Chicago and Chattanooga school districts, as implicated in today’s article from ASCD’s Smart Brief report. The paideia model uses the Socratic method by engaging students in long discussions and classical debate to build critical thinking skills, debating/verbal skills and the ability to synthesize information. Teachers coach students through a series of difficult questions to help guide them to the best possible answers or perhaps to a new revelation. Asking powerful questions is the core of academic coaching, and LifeBound offers coaching classes throughout the year at its home offices in Denver, Colorado. These seminars teach educators and administrators how to ask powerful questions of themselves and their students, which tap internal motivation and boost emotional intelligence.

No Child Left Behind and content-based teaching formulated for standardized testing has replaced paideia in most public schools throughout the U.S., but with today’s emphasis on 21st century skills that promote critical thinking, teamwork and creativity, the Socratic method may make its way back into mainstream education. Chad Flaig, a teacher at Shroder Paideia High School in Cincinnati, says, “That’s one of the things as a teacher in seminar [debate], you are not the information provider. You are just kind of the guide, and sometimes they’ll go down a different path. You just kind of go with it, and the big thing is to make them think and get them out of their comfort zone.”

In order to compete for jobs in this country and around the world, the next generation of students will be forced to stretch themselves and venture into the global marketplace where employers value analytical, creative and practical intelligence. LifeBound’s book, Critical and Creative Thinking for Teenagers, is designed to help students develop the requisite skills for college and career success. To request a review copy of this book, or to find out more about our academic coaching classes, contact the LifeBound office by calling toll free 1.877.737.8510 or sending an email to contact@lifebound.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

ARTICLE:

Cincinnati.Com » Education
January 2, 2010
Where good old-fashioned debate still rules school
PAIDEIA TEACHING IN CINCINNATI
By Ben Fischer

Sports fan and Shroder Paideia High School senior Brandon Ross thought departed Cincinnati Bearcats football coach Brian Kelly was a disloyal turncoat before a Dec. 16 class with teacher Chad Flaig.

Then, with the desks arranged in a circle, Flaig asked tough questions: What does loyalty require? Can you be loyal to only one group at a time? What about loyalty to yourself? Is it possible that loyalty to his players led Kelly to downplay the Notre Dame job until after the crucial Pittsburgh game, avoiding distractions? Or does being loyal require absolute honesty at all times?

The teens didn’t have all the answers.

But they debated Kelly’s departure for the entire class, moderating their opinions when Flaig made a good point and pushing back when they disagreed.

Afterward, Ross wasn’t so sure.

To view this entire article visit www.news.cincinnati.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

The term “millennials” was coined by Neil Howe and William Strauss in their 2000 book, Millennial Rising. Although each generation has its own unique characteristics, the schism between millennials and other generations centers on technology. While demographers debate just how influential digital technology has been on the millennial personality, no one doubts its profound impact. It is certainly the great unifier of millennials from places as diverse as Geneva, Japan, and Jersey. More than any other factor, it has united the generation, even globally.

Today’s article from the Chronicle of Higher Education offers several opinions by people who have studied this new breed of young people. The researchers who study them propose findings that contradict each other, perhaps because the experts themselves are a product of their own generation. The reporter, Eric Hoover, writes: “Depending on the prediction, this generation either will save the planet, one soup kitchen at a time, or crash-land on a lonely moon where nobody ever reads.” Such contradicting arguments should make us wonder whether an entire generation can be effectively stereotyped. With colleges and corporations spending immense amounts of money on experts to tell them how to attract today’s twenty somethings, what implications will these stereotypes have on our higher education institutions?

Following are statistics of millennials that do not stereotype:
• Referred to as the “Internet Generation,” they speak digital as a second language: 94% use the Internet for school research and 78% believe the Internet helps them with school work (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008).
• The vast majority of young people are not in college full time. Only an estimated 25% of 18-24-year-olds attend a four-year college full time (U.S. Department of Education).
• 44% of college students are male (For the first time in history more girls attend college than boys; Newsweek, January 30, 2006).

While it’s useful to determine patterns to help us understand trends, when it comes to students, learning is dynamic. The advent of a new generation of students and increasingly sophisticated technology has left many teachers separated from their students. Similarly, most faculty teach their students in ways they were taught, and these methods may not be reaching today’s students. Indeed, technology has emerged as the salient characteristic of the millennial generation, but like all students, they are as individual as their fingerprints.

What unique characteristics can make millennials successful in the academic and economic world of the 21st century?

How might we better understand these characteristics and translate them into specific pedagogical practices?

What important principles from cognitive science and pedagogy should faculty know and utilize in their teaching?

ARTICLE:

October 11, 2009
The Millennial Muddle
How stereotyping students became a thriving industry and a bundle of contradictions
By Eric Hoover

Kids these days. Just look at them. They’ve got those headphones in their ears and a gadget in every hand. They speak in tongues and text in code. They wear flip-flops everywhere. Does anyone really understand them?

Only some people do, or so it seems. They are experts who have earned advanced degrees, dissected data, and published books. If the minds of college students are a maze, these specialists sell maps.

Ask them to explain today’s teenagers and twentysomethings. Invite them to your campus to describe this generation’s traits. Just make sure that they don’t all show up at the same time. They would argue, contradict one another, and leave you more baffled than ever.

Figuring out young people has always been a chore, but today it’s also an industry. Colleges and corporations pay experts big bucks to help them understand the fresh-faced hordes that pack the nation’s dorms and office buildings. As in any business, there’s variety as well as competition. One speaker will describe youngsters as the brightest bunch of do-gooders in modern history. Another will call them self-involved knuckleheads. Depending on the prediction, this generation either will save the planet, one soup kitchen at a time, or crash-land on a lonely moon where nobody ever reads.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Sudan has been ravaged by civil war and genocide for a quarter of a century, but Valentino Deng hopes to help change that. The article below by New York Times columnist, Nicholas D. Kristof, talks about Valentino, a 30-year-old former Sudanese refugee who opened the first high school in his home town of Marial Bai. Deng’s colleague, Dave Eggers, the author of “What Is the What,” a biography about Valentino, has partnered with him, and all proceeds from the book go toward the school.

Valentino’s school opened earlier this year with 100 students, and the goal for 2010 is boost enrollment to 450. Another priority is to add girl students. “I want to enroll more than 50 percent girls,” Valentino said. “But to do that, I have to house them, because families will not allow a girl to go far away to school without a place to stay.” The school also focuses on leadership through service, and Valentino requires students to participate in activities such as building huts for displaced people, and he actively recruits volunteers. The article reports: “Eight high school teachers from the United States, Canada and New Zealand traveled at their own expense to Valentino’s school last summer to train teachers and work with students. They raved to me about how eager the students are to learn; some students burst into tears when the volunteers had to leave.”

With more schools in the United States emphasizing service learning and leadership, Mr. Deng’s vision is timely. According to the World Bank Data and Statistics, almost half the world—over three billion people—lives on less than $2.50 a day. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. Source: 2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25. Two-thirds of all children not attending school are girls because when a family is forced to choose between sending a son or a daughter to school, it is generally the daughter who remains at home. Poverty and traditional beliefs about the value of educating girls keep 90 million school-aged girls out of the classroom. Source: http://www.ggef.org/top.html.

Most U.S. students would be astonished by these numbers, and we need to expose them to these kinds of real-life issues so they can develop a passion for helping solve some of our world’s most pressing problems using their own resourcefulness and imagination. LifeBound’s book, Junior Guide to Senior Year Success: Becoming a Global Citizen, champions students to see how their gifts and talents could make a difference. We also will be releasing a new book this spring of 2010 on Leadership for Teenagers, that promotes skills for the 21st century. To request a review copy of Junior Guide, or to reserve a copy of our new Leadership book, please contact us toll free at 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

ARTICLE:

The New York Times
December 17, 2009
His Gift Changes Lives
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Here’s a story for the holiday season. A 30-year-old former refugee is putting together a most extraordinary Christmas present — the first high school his community has ever had.

Valentino Deng, 30, is the central figure in the masterful 2006 best seller, “What Is the What,” by Dave Eggers. The book records Valentino’s life after the Sudanese civil war strikes his remote town in South Sudan. His friends were shot around him. He lost contact with his family, and he became one of the “lost boys” of Sudan. Fleeing government soldiers, dodging land mines, eating leaves and animal carcasses, Valentino saw boys around him carried off and devoured by lions.

At one point, Valentino and other refugees were attacked by soldiers beside a crocodile-infested river. He swam to safety through water bloodied as some swimmers were shot and others were snatched by crocodiles.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Mexico’s higher education community is working to “combat soaring dropout rates, a lack of scholarly research, and the poor quality of many of the university’s academic programs,” with Proyecto Aula (Project Classroom), one of several reform efforts modeled after the European Union’s Bologna Process. This process “seeks to establish a common standard for university education and boost student and faculty mobility throughout Europe.” Dr. Jorge Balderrama, a physician, psychologist and professor, is helping lead this change, which “include instituting a flexible and multidisciplinary curriculum, a new emphasis on critical thinking and problem-based learning, and integrating research and technology into the classroom.”

Francisco Marmolejo, executive director of the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration, states “What matters in the end is not just how much they know about one specific discipline or profession. We need more thinking students with the capacity to adapt to changing conditions in the work environment.” The article below also states that “other reform projects in the region include a European Union-led effort to revise university curricula that involves consulting public and business officials and other stakeholders about what university graduates need to know.” And that “several Latin American countries, including Chile and Brazil, are also experimenting with instituting student-centered learning methods in public universities.”

Project Classroom’s goals will enhance Latin America’s ability to compete globally and are consistent with the topics covered in my Keys to Success series, which has been read by more than one million students worldwide with translations in Chinese and Spanish. Mexico’s quest for higher standards will inevitably lead back to what students are learning at the middle school and high school levels. LifeBound’s stair-step program for grades 5-12 is designed to help students successfully navigate the academic and developmental transitions at every grade level. Our Study Skills book has been translated into Spanish for high school students.

What measurable steps can we take at the k-12 level to coordinate priorities between secondary and post secondary learning for future employability?

How can we raise awareness about the Bologna Process and thereby enlist input from employers to better align the skills and competencies of graduates with global market requirements?

How can we better prepare American high school students to gain a competitive edge for college and career success?

ARTICLE:

Latin American Looks to Europe for Teaching Reform
By Marion Lloyd
Veracruz, Mexico
The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 22, 2009

Ten years ago, one of Jorge Balderrama’s psychology students gave the following answer when asked to evaluate his professor’s performance: “You pretend to teach, and I pretend to learn.”
The student might have been describing the classroom experience today at most Mexican universities, says Dr. Balderrama, a physician and psychologist who has taught for more than 15 years.

Despite more than a decade of government-led higher-education reforms in Latin America, most of the region’s universities continue to rely on a traditional professor-centered educational model, which includes a rigid, pre-professional curriculum and an emphasis on rote learning. The model is also highly inefficient, with Mexican college students spending on average 30 percent more time in class than their counterparts in the United States and Canada do, according to education specialists in Mexico and the United States.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CARO’LS SUMMARY

President Obama is in China this week as part of his four-stop trip to Asia, having visited Japan and Singapore earlier this month, he arrived in Shanghai yesterday and will fly to Beijing later today. In a town-hall style meeting where the president spoke to college students in Shanghai–most were hand picked by the officials of the Chinese government–he praised their country for its spectacular rise in the global economy and said the United States welcomes their success. China experienced a sharp slowdown last year and early this year, but is now in the midst of another growth spurt. According to expert forecasters, the country’s economy is likely to grow by about 8 percent, by far the best performing major economy, accounting for much of the world’s economic growth this year. They are expected to surpass Germany as the world’s biggest exporter, and hit a trade surplus in excess of $200 billion.

One result of their country’s economic growth is an influx of Chinese students enrolling in U.S. colleges and universities, as the Chronicle of Higher Education article below reports. More Chinese families can afford to ramp up their children’s educational pursuits and many want to send them to the U. S. for higher education. According to new data from the Institute of International Education in its “Open Doors” report, “Some 671,616 international students attended U.S. institutions in 2008-9, an increase of almost 8 percent from a year earlier. First-time-student enrollments grew even more robustly, by nearly 16 percent.”

However, the news isn’t all good. “Everything has to be set against the economic crisis we’re mired in,” says Ken Curtis, assistant vice president for international education and global engagement at California State University at Long Beach. For example, a survey this fall of 700 institutions shows the downside: While half of the institutions reported foreign-student enrollment increases this year over last, a quarter experienced declines. A second recent survey, by the Council of Graduate Schools, found that growth in the number of first-time international students in American graduate schools was flat. Enrollments from India and South Korea, two of the three largest sources of foreign students, declined. “The question,” says Debra W. Stewart, the council’s president, “is the extent to which we can continue to rely on international students to feed our graduate schools.” Another issue is the decline in graduate enrollments. Both the Open Doors data and the council’s report suggest a shift in the makeup of the international student body in the U.S. The article reports: “If current enrollment trends hold, the number of foreign undergraduates, which includes students studying for associate or bachelor’s degrees, is poised to surpass the number of those pursuing graduate degrees.”

One reason for the declines in foreign-student enrollment is that students are looking elsewhere because the job outlook is bad here. “The U.S. was looked at as a land of opportunities. It was seen as a utopia for good students who were confident they would get jobs,” says Bindu Chopra, head of the Bangalore office of N&N Chopra Consultants, which advises students on studying overseas. “When they see that they are unlikely to get jobs, they’d rather not take loans and spend so much and go for a graduate degree.” Victor C. Johnson, senior adviser for public policy at Nafsa: Association of International Educators, says the recent slowdown points to the need for a national strategy for international-student recruitment. “We don’t want to wake up one day and find out that, because we have not adopted a national policy, we’re no longer competitive,” Mr. Johnson says. “We need to respond before it’s too late to do something.”

A big benefit to U.S. students is for students whose families can’t afford to send them abroad or who may have other reservations about foreign travel, an influx of international students means the world is coming to them. U. S. students need to become more globally minded and see their gifts and talents in the context of our global world. LifeBound’s book, Junior Guide to Senior Year Success: Becoming a Global Citizen, sets a new standard for getting ready for college by helping students think more broadly about their education in the global economy and how this impacts their future career. Study abroad and other programs are explored in the text, and students are exposed to real-life stories about “globe savers,” featuring people around the globe who are tackling some of our world’s biggest problems. For a review copy, please call the LifeBound office toll free 1.877.737.8510 or email us at contact@lifebound.com.

How can we help our U.S. students make the most of this opportunity to form relationships with students from other countries and become a global citizen?

How can we successfully balance and leverage integrating a high number of Chinese students on U.S. campuses while maintaining our recruiting numbers at the graduate level? What might be the alternatives to this prescribed method?

As this articles raises, how can we help ensure that Chinese students in the U.S. don’t cloister together rather than branching out while they’re here and forming relationships with their global counterparts?

ARTICLE
November 16, 2009
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
By Karin Fischer
The number of foreign students attending American colleges hit an all-time high in 2008, capping three consecutive years of vigorous growth, according to new data from the Institute of International Education.
Some 671,616 international students attended U.S. institutions in 2008-9, an increase of almost 8 percent from a year earlier. First-time-student enrollments grew even more robustly, by nearly 16 percent.

But the rosy data highlighted in the annual “Open Doors” report may obscure some potentially worrisome trends. Though graduate programs typically rely more on international students, enrollment grew far more strongly at the undergraduate level, where the number of students jumped 11 percent, than at the graduate level, where enrollments climbed a little more than 2 percent. What’s more, the increase in students pursuing undergraduate studies was largely dependent on enrollment from China, which shot up by 60 percent.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/3QPxuh

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

In the first of its kind study by the U.S. Department of Education, results revealed that almost one-third of states have lowered their profieciency standards in reading and math in order to comply with the No Child Left Behind law.  As the New York Times article below reports, 15 states lowered their standards in either reading or math from 2005 to 2007, while three states, Maine, Oklahoma and Wyoming, lowered standards in “both subjects at both grade levels,” the study said.

Note:  Researchers compared the results of state tests and the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2005 and 2007, identifying a score on the national assessment that was equivalent to each state’s definition of proficiency. To see these state by state comparison’s click on the imbedded link titled, “Score Discrepanices.”

In response to these results, U. S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan said, ““At a time when we should be raising standards to compete in the global economy, more states are lowering the bar than raising it,” and added, “We’re lying to our children.”  The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Louis Fabrizio, described the dilemma: “When you set standards, do you want to show success under N.C.L.B. by having higher percentages of students at proficiency, in which case you’ll set lower standards?” Mr. Fabrizio asked. “Or do you want to do the right thing for kids, by setting them higher so they’re comparable with our global competitors?”

In the 21st century, new forces—cultural, political, environmental, and economic—are sweeping the world, causing Americans to reexamine the role of their country within these new global complexities.  No entity needs to respond more effectively to these changes than our nation’s schools. We need to find new ways to challenge students by helping them clarify their ideas, discover their talents, and maximize their possibilities.

What should all U.S. students be expected to know and understand about the world?

What skills and attitudes will our students need to confront future problems, which most assuredly will be global in scope?

What do scholars from the international relations disciplines and experienced practitioners of global education believe students should know, and how can these insights best be incorporated into the existing standards?

ARTICLE

New York Times

by Sam Dillon

A new federal study shows that nearly a third of the states lowered their academic proficiency standards in recent years, a step that helps schools stay ahead of sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law. But lowering standards also confuses parents about how children’s achievement compares with those in other states and countries.

To view the entire article visit

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/education/30educ.html

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
Inspired by the late Dr. Martin Luther King , U. S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, in his speech yesterday to D.C. stakeholders called education “the civil rights issue of our generation.” Speaking to more than 150 groups from education, business, civil rights and social services, Duncan challenged them to rewrite the No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which was approved by Congress in 2001 and finalized by President Bush in 2002, a law that reauthorized and amended federal education programs established under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.

While Duncan credits NCLB for highlighting the achievement gap in schools and for focusing on student outcomes, he said the law puts too much emphasis on standardized tests, unfairly labels many schools as failures, and doesn’t account for students’ academic growth in its accountability system. But Duncan says the biggest problem with NCLB is that “it doesn’t encourage high learning standards,” which contributes to our nation’s staggeringly high dropout rate. Duncan relayed a conversation he had with a 9th grader, Teton Magpie, on a Montana reservation who told Duncan that adults simple don’t expect enough of him and his peers. Duncan said, “When kids aren’t challenged they are bored—and when they are bored they quit.” Here are statistics Duncan cited to underscore the problems:

- 27% of America ’s young people drop out of high school. That means 1.2 million teenagers are leaving our schools for the streets.
- Recent international tests in math and science show our students trail their peers in other countries. For 15-year-olds in math, the United States ranks 31st.
- 17-year olds today are performing at the exact same levels in math and reading as they were in the early 1970’s on the NAEP test.

- Just 40% of young people earn a two-year or four-year college degree.

- The US now ranks 10th in the world in the rate of college completion for 25- to 34-year-olds.

A generation ago, we were first in the world but we’re falling behind. The global achievement gap is growing. At LifeBound we are committed to education reforms that support success in college and careers. Solving global problems in the 21st Century requires innovative people who face life with curiosity and the desire to dig beneath the surface for answers and ideas. As educators, it is our responsibility to foster these critical and creative thinking skills in our students so that they are prepared to enter the global marketplace. Students don’t get bored and quit when they are challenged to think deeply about themselves, their gifts and talents and their role in the world.

1) At the district and school levels, how can we place a bigger value on student success and transition programs that help students achieve their full potential?

2) What can we do to foster adaptable thinkers who are both self and world-smart?

3) How can we help ensure that all students are prepared for college, career and life success?

ARTICLE
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to challenge educators, civil rights groups and others to put aside “tired arguments” about education reform to help him craft a sweeping reauthorization of federal education legislation by early 2010.

To view entire article visit

http://bit.ly/aoDqJ

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Last year Spain’s government created a foundation to recruit more international students. The Spanish Foundation is the newest addition to the European trend to expand their global presence. This week roughly 4,000 European educators will meet at the annual conference of the European Association for International Education in Madrid. The European Union, consisting of 27 nations, has said that it aims to make European higher education more attractive internationally. For the past decade Europe has been overhauling their higher-education systems in 46 countries to create greater consistency among degree programs and a more coherent degree-granting process. For example, fewer than 700 students from China enrolled at Spanish universities during the 2007-8 academic year. To bring in more Chinese students, Spain’s Ministry of Education agreed in 2007 to recognize Chinese university-entrance qualifications, a concession that had been reserved for European Union students.

While the European push for international students competes with U.S. efforts, these goals also provide opportunities for American colleges and universities looking for new partnerships overseas, particularly with Asia and the Middle East. John K. Hudzik, vice president for global engagement at Michigan State University and president of NAFSA: Association of International Educators is quoted in this article saying, “They’re making higher education more portable across national boundaries, and that is creating a very powerful force in the world. We’re talking about a population and a GDP greater than the U.S. What they’re doing is beginning to shape what we do.”"

Much of the impetus for Europe’s aim to raise international profiles of their universities hinge on two demographics: Age and diversity. Their aging population has translated into lower enrollments, and their increasingly diverse population across the continent necessitates that the keep step with the changing base of prospective students. Hudzik says, “If we believe firmly in the virtues of internationalization and cross-border learning, and all the rest,” he says, “then we should be happy anytime we see somebody build the numbers up, regardless of who it is.” Here a considerations:

How can American and European institutions streamline their efforts to promote the globalization of learning?

How might these efforts help shape the global economy and the creation of future careers?

ARTICLE
Chronicle of Higher Education
by Aisha Labi

With its sunny climate, relaxed lifestyle, and relatively easy-to-learn language, Spain would seem to need little selling as a destination for foreign university students. Yet although it is a popular study-abroad option for Americans and draws a fair number of students from Latin America, the country is not a major player in the fast-growing international student market.

So last year the Spanish government created a foundation to promote Spanish higher education abroad. Starting with nearly $3-million from the ministries of education, science and innovation, and foreign affairs, the organization will tap into a global network of embassies and cultural institutions to create an international marketing campaign.

To view entire article visit
http://bit.ly/gC30w