The Promise of International Education

The United States finds itself today at the heart of a significant paradigm shift. Its role as the only world superpower is waning as other prosperous countries gain significant influence in global affairs. The U.S. will increasingly share responsibility with multiple players for addressing complex issues in trade, health, the environment and security.

Our state, too, is at a critical point in its history - a moment when our role as a manufacturing giant in basic industry is shifting to an economy based on innovative new products in sectors that were not imagined even a decade ago. Decisions are being made that will determine whether Ohio prospers or stagnates during the 21st century. Education plays a critical role in these decisions.

There is a strong consensus among at the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) and among its many partners in business, the nonprofit sector, foundations, government, higher education and community organizations that Ohio must continue to plan strategically and take action to prepare students for success in the 21st century.

At the policy level, the State Board of Education has adopted as a long-term priority a statement titled Education in the New Global Economy which charges the ODE with ensuring “that Ohio’s students are prepared to compete in the new global economy by engaging stakeholders in strategic conversations about the changing role of education, improving standards and assessment and benchmarking student achievement against international standards.”

In 2006, with support from the Longview Foundation, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) convened the International Education Advisory Committee (IEAC), a group of educators, business leaders, foundation representatives, policy-makers and community organizations who believe that Ohio must actively strategize and take action to prepare students for success in the world of the 21st century. The group adopted the following mission statement: “To provide Ohioans with the necessary knowledge, abilities and opportunities to thrive in a global society.”

After gathering input from stakeholders at a statewide summit in April 2007, the IEAC began work on a strategic plan by defining international education as a comprehensive approach mission and goals statements. These include:

1. Ohio citizens will understand the global context and diversity of relationships among themselves, their communities and the world.
   
   Global Context: Students see and experience relationships among themselves, their communities and the world. Issues are not seen as existing in a vacuum, but within a complex, dynamic web.
2. Ohio educators will deliver global content as a component of a world-class education and will create systems to support it.
   
   Global Content: Students learn about the geography, history, economics and culture of other world regions. They can communicate in more than one language. Standards are internationally benchmarked, and assessments are aligned.
3. Students will become global thinkers with 21st century skills, so they can think critically and creatively across disciplines, manage complexity, embrace technology and value diversity.
   
   Global Thinkers: Students think critically and creatively across disciplines, manage complexity, embrace technology and value diversity. They can work effectively in cross-cultural environments, using information from sources around the world.
4. Ohio citizens will achieve greater economic prosperity and improved quality of life.
   
   Global Systems: Ohio’s education system is benchmarked against the highest-performing systems in the world. Ohio educators are connected to communities of practice that extend around the globe and that bring innovative ideas and practices to our schools.

The Ohio Department of Education working with the IEAC strategic plan and partners facilitates, supports, and actively participates in numerous initiatives designed to enhance international education opportunities for Ohio’s students and larger education community. An overview of these initiatives and resources can be found here. These initiatives serve as a kind of infrastructure, useful in building our global capacity and networks. It enables Ohio to compete based on its unique strengths and increasingly, to leverage important interdependencies through collaboration.  

  

Contact information:  Ryan Wertz, Interim International Education Coordinator

Author’s Background Information: Ryan Wertz serves as a world languages consultant and the acting international education coordinator at the Ohio Department of Education. His work supports the efforts of K-12 teachers of all content areas who seek to internationalize educational opportunities for their students across the curriculum. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities at the ODE, Ryan spent the better part of a decade working with middle and high school students as a classroom Spanish teacher.  He attributes many of his professional and personal successes to the rich experiences he had while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines (1989-90) and Panamá (1991-94) and while training future Peace Corps volunteers in Costa Rica (1996).  He also identifies the two years he spent studying abroad as an undergraduate in Luxembourg and Spain as the primary catalysts for embarking on an internationally-focused career in education.  Ryan obtained his B.A. from Miami University, where he double-majored in Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs and Political Science.  He obtained his M.Ed. in Foreign Language Education from The Ohio State University.