Global Cities Education Network Collaborating to Transform Education in Asia and North America GEC - NYC February 29, 2016

The Global Cities Education Network In May 2012, to create the first ever best practices partnership network among city education systems, Asia Society launched the Global Cities Education Network (GCEN) with education leadership across North America and the Asia-Pacific region. Purpose: Convene and build the capacity of education leadership teams in Asia and North America to work together to solve common high priority problems Member Cities: Denver, Houston, Seattle, Toronto, Lexington, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Hiroshima, Melbourne Impact: Changes in policies and practices within GCEN cities that impact teaching and learning for over 5.8 million students in just the inaugural group of 10 cities. 2

What are the critical components of a high quality education system? Vision Leadership High standards Alignment & coherence High quality teachers and leaders Commitment to equity Management & accountability Student motivation Global orientation 3

What we’re learning from the world in education THREE KEY AREAS: 1.Developing effective teachers & leaders 2.High impact professional learning systems 3.Rigorous, global authentic curriculum 4

1. Developing Effective Teachers & Leaders Teachers Recruiting – paid preparation, clinical training Induction – strong induction from trained mentors Professional learning system – based on collaborative inquiry and action research Sharing – Build the entire career system around the idea of sharing knowledge and expertise 5

1. Developing Effective Teachers & Leaders Leaders Redefining the role of school leader – culture and instruction Long term approach to recruitment and development Leadership development customized to career stage and need Shared leadership and increasing use of teacher leaders Deploying effective leaders in every school Varied roles for high performing principals 6

Focused on student outcomes Embedded in teacher practice Informed by research Collaborative, reflective and involves feedback Ongoing and supported by the culture and operation Individual and collective responsibility Appropriate to the stage of teaching career 7 2. Professional Learning Systems Source: Developing and Sustaining a High- Quality Teacher Force by Linda Darling-Hammond. Asia Society: 2013.

2. Professional Learning Systems Three practices drive professional learning across a number of high performing systems: 1. Assessing students’ learning to identify what they are ready to learn next 2. Developing the teaching practices that will provide the next stage of student learning and being clear what evidence supports this 3. Evaluating the impact of new practices on student learning 8 Source: Ben Jensen, Julie Sonnemann, Katie Roberts-Hull and Amélie Hunter, “Beyond PD: Teacher Professional Learning in High-Performing Systems” (Washington, DC: National Center on Education and the Economy, 2016).

2. Professional Learning Systems Four central programs are common across high performing systems: 1.Professional Learning Communities – main driver 2.Mentoring 3.External experts 4.Courses 9

2. Professional Learning Systems Systemic efforts to share knowledge 10 JapanChinaSingaporeBritish Columbia Lesson study – groups of teachers review the lesson plans and determine how to improve them; school by school and large public research lesson Open classroom observations; weekly subject- based teacher study groups 100 hours of professional development per year; school based PLCs; working now to foster cross- school PLCs Collaborative inquiry teams

3. Global authentic curriculum High, universal standards Focused, rigorous and coherent content – Fewer topics in each grade level but covered to a deeper degree – Orderly progression of topics to allow thorough and deep coverage – Limited repetition across grades Focus on 21 st century skills for a global world Languages 11

creativity learning to learn communication technology literacy experimentation self-awareness responsibility cultural awareness critical thinking metacognition collaboration leadership initiative teamwork problem solving WAYS OF THINKINGWAYS OF WORKINGTOOLS FOR WORKINGLIVING IN THE WORLD 3. Global authentic curriculum Source: RAND Corporation based on the report Teaching and Learning 21st Century Skills: Lessons from the Learning Sciences, by Anna Rosefsky Saavedra and Darleen Opfer. Asia Society: 2012.

How the World is Addressing 21 st Century Skills Global authentic curriculum Source: RAND Corporation based on the report, Teaching and Learning 21st Century Skills: Lessons from the Learning Sciences, by Anna Rosefsky Saavedra and Darleen Opfer. Asia Society: 2012.

Creating a Global PLC – What We’ve Learned Asia Society Global Cities Education Network has 3 goals: 1.Create a sustainable global network 2.Share and spread effective change in the member cities – support the adoption of change 3.Disseminate practice beyond the members 14

Multiple Mechanisms for Interaction Summits Alternate between host cities in Asia and North America annually City teams share best practices and engage in collaborative work sessions Includes site visits to model schools and global businesses in each city Working Group Meetings Analyze topics of common interest between small groups of city leaders – Teacher professional learning – Career and technical education – 21 st century competencies Action plans created for changing policies and practices in each site Mixed teams include teachers and district leaders as implementation plans are created Ongoing dialogues in district/school sites 15

Best Practice Dissemination Sharing of lessons learned to a broad audience worldwide Downloadable research reports and case studies Videos from GCEN Summits and related public programming Webinars and online exchange 16

GCEN Learnings in Action Three levels: 1. Network-wide across systems Peers, colleagues, experts to understand best practice What can the network itself say about high quality 21 st century learning? 2. Districts changing policies and practices Content Tools and experience in implementing ideas 3. Individuals in the network 17

GCEN Learnings in Action Three levels: 1. Network-wide across systems Peers, colleagues, experts to understand best practice What can the network itself say about high quality 21 st century learning? 2. Districts changing policies and practices Content Tools and experience in implementing ideas 3. Individuals in the network 18

District Level Changes – Denver revamped its teacher training program and feedback loop with local teacher education institutions based on lessons from Toronto and Singapore – Houston has rewritten how to define 21 st century skills based on practices in Singapore and Shanghai; creating the professional development to support this work – Seattle studying collaborative professional learning communities and process for implementation based on proven models around the world; designing professional learning modules by teachers for teachers to scale 21 st century teaching. Scope and sequence of PD completely rewritten based on their learnings from GCEN. – Denver revamping its CTE program looking at Singapore and Switzerland as models, especially in raising status of CTE and gaining buy-in from business community – Lexington is creating apprenticeships programs based on Switzerland and other international models; they are particularly focused on education apprenticeships and expanding minority applicants in the pipeline 19

Recent Findings – GCEN Learning Instrumental Learning: Concrete specific learning members can apply to their own districts, happening most often through our working groups Social learning: Participants test their thinking on emerging topics through exchange Self-authoring learning: Reflections to better understand their own systems; using the network to take on an ‘adaptive’ challenge of changing their own large system 20

Importance of Self-Authoring In order to bring about change it is necessary to develop a self-authoring perspective – you first have to see a system for what it is to be able to change that system Since our goal in GCEN is to foster high quality changes in policy and practice, learning from others around the world, we are interested to further explore how to encourage this learning 21

“Education must suit our unique context. We must always be humble and we must always learn from the best in the world. But we must not simply copy what works elsewhere, or do what is fashionable, without bearing in mind our unique culture, context and circumstances, and what we have achieved. We should have the courage and confidence to do what we think is right and evolve our system to what is best for us.” - Heng Swee Keat, Singapore Minister for Education 22

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