(FRANKFORT, Ky.) -- The first Kentucky International Education Summit will be held Wednesday, October 22, at the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort.
Governor Paul Patton is scheduled to provide opening remarks, beginning at 9 a.m. Other speakers include Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit and Tom Welch of the Kentucky Economic Cabinet.
Funded by grants from the Asia Society and the Longview Foundation and hosted by the Kentucky Department of Education, the summit will bring together education, business, government and private agencies to identify international partnerships and activities for students and teachers and to discuss ways to provide a world-centered education approach.
During the 2002 General Assembly, the state legislature passed a resolution (SCR 142) urging the Department of Education to promote international study and other activities that promote cultural awareness, mutual understanding and respect for citizens of other countries. The International Education Summit was developed in part as a response to that resolution. The summit also will provide networking and linking opportunities among the participants.
The summit will serve as a kick-off for the department's development of a comprehensive plan for internationalizing education, which will include partnerships with businesses and foreign education ministries, professional development and curriculum design. Later this year, Education Commissioner Wilhoit will name members to a task force on international education to provide input and assistance on developing the plan. The plan also will address ways to reduce achievement gaps among students.
Kentucky already has developed partnerships and activities related to international education, including:
- a Latin American Summit called by Governor Paul Patton, which included business and education representatives
- memoranda of agreement between the Kentucky Department of Education and the ministries of education of France and Spain
- the work of organizations such as the Kentucky Institute for International Studies
- a legislative grant to fund foreign language programs in 10 elementary schools
An agenda for the summit follows.
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INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SUMMIT
October 22, 2003
Kentucky History Center
Frankfort, Kentucky
8:30 a.m. -- Registration and coffee
9 a.m. -- Opening Remarks - Governor Paul Patton
Welcome and Summit Overview
9:45 a.m. -- The Kentucky Perspective - Tom Welch, The New Economy
10 a.m. -- Icebreaker Activity
10:30 a.m. -- Break
10:45 a.m. -- International Education, the Social Studies and Interdisciplinary Learning - Fred Czarra, national consultant
11 a.m. -- International Education, World Languages and Interdisciplinary Learning - Marty Abbott, national consultant
11:15 a.m. -- Small group discussions
12:30 p.m. -- Lunch
1:30 p.m. -- Synthesis of morning sessions
2 p.m. -- Mixed-group work
3:15 p.m. -- Break
3:30 p.m. -- Group reports
4:15 p.m. -- Closing comments - Gene Wilhoit, Kentucky Education Commissioner
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