Leadership for the Global Age
By Vivien Stewart, Vice President for Education, Asia Society

From science and economics to culture and politics, ideas and capital are crossing borders and spanning the globe. The rise of China and India, the unification of Europe, and the spread of free markets in place of Communism are all fundamental facts of our time. Businesses large and small have been reinventing themselves for the global era, recognizing that 70% of future growth will be in markets outside the United States. Yet American schools are locked in a kind of educational isolationism. Students (and teachers) are taught little about the geography, history, cultures, and languages of the 90% of the world outside our borders.

Education also has to reinvent itself for a new world. If our students are to succeed in this interconnected world, they will need a new set of 21st century knowledge and skills, ones that include far greater international acumen. How can state and school education leaders lead change on this critical emerging set of issues while simultaneously satisfying older mandates, where all the resources and accountability pressures are? The answers lie in building coalitions and partnerships and in harnessing the technologies of the 21st century.

Since the creation of the States Institute on International Education in the Schools in 2002 by a national coalition of state and national education organizations, led by former governors James B. Hunt Jr. and John Engler, approximately 15 states have created task forces or statewide coalitions on international education. States such as Michigan, West Virginia, Delaware, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Washington have brought together leaders from many sectors—schools, higher education, business, cultural, and international affairs organizations—to analyze their state's economic, demographic, and cultural relationships to other parts of the world, assess what resources exist in their state, and create initial action plans.

To take one example, North Carolina brought together about 100 people from the governor's office, schools, universities, the state legislature, state board of education, and business community to create "North Carolina in the World: A Plan to Increase Student Knowledge and Skills about the World." The plan argues that, "It is not enough to prepare students for higher education and the workforce in ways that ignore the fundamental changes brought about by globalization." It sets out specific 5- and 10-year objectives for the state on increasing teachers' international knowledge; expanding world language skills; building international partnerships and exchanges, both real and virtual; connecting schools to the international resources of higher education; and integrating international content into existing programs and curriculum areas. Task forces of this same coalition will now work towards implementing these objectives, including introducing legislation.

In schools too, school leaders are introducing new skills for the 21st century through partnerships and collaborations that bring a global dimension to the school. From suburban schools like Evanston, Illinois; Newton, Massachusetts; or Glastonbury, Connecticut, to schools serving urban minority students like the International School of the Americas in San Antonio, Metropolitan Learning Center outside Hartford, Connecticut, and the John Stanford School in Seattle, school leaders are bringing an international dimension to their schools through partnerships with local universities, local internationally oriented businesses, and cultural organizations. They are also making imaginative use of technology to do joint projects over the Internet with classrooms around the world, linking students via videoconference with students in other countries, providing language instruction through online courses, and using the vast international resources available on the web to infuse international content into the core curriculum areas. By starting slowly, getting community buy in, and creating innovative partnerships to bring new content and resources, these schools are showing how a global focus can improve the quality of teaching and motivate student curiosity and learning.

In today's global era, we need to work across boundaries and borders. Educators cannot take on these new responsibilities alone, but by building coalitions and partnerships and harnessing information technologies, they can both continue to raise achievement on traditional measures and develop the new skills our students will need for work, citizenship, and leadership in the global age.

Information and tools for states and schools can be found on InternationalEd.org