China-US Education Exchange
Forging partnerships to elevate teaching and learning
How can schools today prepare students for the world tomorrow? Both the United States and China are striving to improve the quality of education to meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century. The China-US Education Exchange (CUSEE) supports this mutual goal by elevating elementary and secondary (K-12) school leadership and teaching in both countries through a cross-cultural investigation of best-practice teaching and learning.
Developed in cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Education, this ongoing exchange launched with a six-month CUSEE Residency program for Chinese K-12 educators, who lived, learned, and worked in diverse school communities across the United States. The second phase of the program, involving Chinese teachers and school administrators on a short-term exchange to the United States, will begin in early 2012, and the third phase will send American K-12 educators to school communities in China.
These international professional development and exchange opportunities for Chinese educators are part of the Chinese Ministry of Education’s effort to improve K-12 teaching and learning and equalize access to quality education in China.
The six-month CUSEE Residency program engaged 15 of China’s top classroom teachers, school administrators, and provincial officials from throughout China. Click here to meet the Residency fellows and learn about their home region, and read their reflections on how their experiences in US schools unlocked new insights on the role of education and the mission of teachers and schools in both the United States and China.
The 2012 CUSEE Program will involve a larger number of Chinese educators in short-term exchanges. As in the Residency exchange, it will embark with a one-week Teaching Leadership Institute for the Chinese participants at the East-West Center. The Institute will include lectures, guided discussions, and hands-on learning with visits to several schools in Honolulu. Click here to view a sample Institute agenda from the Residency program.
Chinese participants will then travel in small groups to carefully selected US mainland schools. During their nine-days of immersion at a host school, Chinese educators will participate in homestays, observe classrooms in action, meet with teachers as well as students, sit in on meetings with administrators and teachers, visit other nearby schools, and engage in cultural and community activities. They will also share their own expertise and best practices as well as their cultures with their American host schools.
The visit will conclude with a debriefing back at the East-West Center. Groups will share highlights of their experiences and develop action plans for implementing these in their schools in China. A weblog will facilitate further discussions and support continuous exchange after the participants return to China.
American Educator Visits to China: Reciprocal US teams will be selected from host school participants and will spend approximately three weeks visiting and learning from their partner schools in China. Homestays and school or community service projects may also be part of the reciprocal exchange, and will stimulate continued learning and ongoing China-US school partnerships.