Asia Society Education Team Hosts Global Ed Symposium in Houston
"It's no longer enough for our students to simply graduate from high school. They must be ready to compete in a 21st century global society. That requires a global education, which will be key to Houston's future....A global education helps students learn more about the world, appreciate other cultures and work with people from varied backgrounds. It encourages them to learn new languages, which makes them better thinkers and learners."
--Terry Grier, Houston ISD Superintendent in the Houston Chronicle, January 24, 2015
Asia Society in partnership with America Achieves and the Houston Independent School District hosted a day-long symposium at the Asia Society Texas Center on the topic of the OECD Test for Schools results and sharing of best practices from around Texas and the world to advance student performance. The event featured Asia Society’s work from both the International Studies Schools Network as well as the Global Cities Education Network, sharing system-level learnings from around Asia and the world and demonstrating how schools have implemented global learning in practice. Featured speakers included Terry Grier (Houston ISD Superintendent); Tue Halgreen (OECD); Peter Kannam (America Achieves) and Tony Jackson (VP, Education, Asia Society). One of the breakout sessions was led by ISSN principal Thuy Le-Thai of Sharpstown International, who spoke of her strategies to raise student achievement including integrating global learning to connect her kids to each other and the world.
With leadership from our education team in New York and collaboration with the center in Texas, this was an excellent opportunity to connect the work we do nationally and globally to a local audience and strengthen ties with Houston ISD, the fourth largest school district in the US. Houston Superintendent Terry Grier’s op-ed on the importance of global education in the Houston Chronicle noted the leadership of Asia Society and spurred much local interest in the event. "It is thanks to America Achieves and the Asia Society that we're able to bring together our counterparts from across the state to analyze and learn from our results and…more importantly that we will begin building a regional community of educators who are committed to providing all students with a globally competitive education," he wrote. Houston continues to emerge as a national leader on learning from and with the world, raising the bar for major districts in the United States to continue to engage with colleagues in Asia and the world as they recognize that “global perspective and educating for the future are intimately connected.”